Kaczur 1 Sarah Kaczur L408 Dr. Carter Book Rationale ... - Oncourse

Kaczur 23In addition to the numerous allusions in Skellig, Almond employs symbols in the novel.Mina watches a family of blackbirds and teaches Michael to listen and to observe nature via thebirds. The fledgling birds' journey to maturity parallels the baby's struggle for life and hereventual recovery. Moreover, the parents nurture the baby birds into adulthood just as Mina andMichael physically nurture Skellig and as Skellig spiritually nurtures the children.Skellig himself may be a symbol. When Michael asks Skellig what he is, Skellig replies,"'Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel'"(167). The reader recognizes that he or she is like Skellig - part beast, part angel. This opens thepossibility that Skellig is in fact a manisfestation of a part of Michael. Almond's choice of namesmay also be a hint in that direction. Skellig Michael is a small, rocky island off the southwesterncoast of Ireland, where a monastery by the same name exists (Skellig Michael). If SkelligMichael is one island and one monastery, perhaps the novel's Skellig and Michael are two facetsof one being: the spiritual and the physical.SpeakIn Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, as in the other novels, the protagonist serves as firstperson narrator. Melinda Sordino tells the story of her freshman year at Merryweather HighSchool, where she experiences social and emotional isolation. Little by little snatches are givenwhich enable the reader to piece together the events that occurred before school started thatresult in this state of affairs. Melinda had gone to a beer party with friends. She drank threebeers, and Andy Evans, a senior, danced with her and then raped her. It is not until page 135 thatthe reader sees the actual event. When Evans asks if she wants to, she is confused and silent. Sheis after all thirteen and drunk. When he has her on the ground, however, she says no. He coversher mouth with his hand, and "In my head, my voice is as clear as a bell: 'NO I DON'T WANTTO!'" In shock, she calls 911 for help, and the police come, but she becomes frightened andwalks home during the confusion, leaving everyone at the party to think she called the policebecause the party was getting out of hand. As a result, she is regarded as an informer, and treatedas an outcast.The time span of the book is an entire school year. Melinda's grades fall; she skips class andschool. Her only companion is Heather, a new girl, who dumps Melinda when she no longerneeds her. Melinda becomes increasingly silent at school and at home. It is at this point that twopotent symbols emerge.The first is the closet at school that becomes Melinda's refuge. When she cuts class, sheneeds a place to go, and she discovers an unused broom closet. Her retreat to this secret placereinforces her loneliness and isolation. She decorates it by hanging a picture of Maya Angelou.Angelou, of course, was raped as a child herself. Melinda also brings some of her art work to thisroom. Art is the only class in which Melinda experiences any success.It is fitting that Melinda finally breaks her silence in this room. As spring wears on and shedoes some yard work, she seems to rejuvenate. She decides that she no longer needs the roomand is cleaning it out when Evans locks her in and proceeds to attack her a second time. Thistime she fights back; she finds her voice at last and screams and screams. The lacrosse team,