Misunderstanding can lead to Discomfort in the Social World

603 Words3 Pages
A misunderstanding can be a cause of a teen’s nonsocial personality towards adults and other people. Most teens are never understood by his or her parents, teachers, and other people. Melinda goes through the same situation of people not understanding her within the book, Speak. In Speak, Laurie Anderson uses motifs, symbols, and characterization to show that most adults do not understand teenagers. In the book, Speak, motifs are quite significant to Melinda’s story. In Melinda’s family they use notes to stay in touch with each other. “I come home to a note that says, ‘Pizza 555-4892’” (Anderson 14). Often, Anderson explains that Melinda and her parents do not commune face-to-face. Melinda’s family has a dormant social relationship between each other. This conflict highlights the motif, communication—or the lack of communication. Communication is vital to a good family relationship; since it is nowhere to be found in Melinda’s family, it makes it difficult for her parents to understand what is going on in her world. Motif, the literary device, shows that communication is necessary for a family to understand one another. This leads one to see that without good communication in a family, understanding each other is impossible. Speak offers many important literary devices like symbolism. Mr. Freeman plays commentary by pointing out his observations regarding Melinda’s artwork. “Mr. Freeman: ‘This has a meaning. Pain’” (Anderson 65). Mr. Freeman sees the emotion that was put into the piece of art—pain. Her artwork, the symbol, shows her pain. This also connects to the lack of understanding that she receives from others. She is expressing her pain, silence, and deficiency of understanding through art. Due to the fact that no one seems to understand her, her reputation is maimed by those who have misleading information. The symbol, artwork, shows the pain and grief that

More about Misunderstanding can lead to Discomfort in the Social World

Open Document