Mirrors Symbol in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson Essay Example

Melinda is starting high school after being raped and losing all of her friends. She is unable to stand up for herself, and she is considered an outcast at her school. Due to this Melinda comes to isolate herself, and becomes lonely. Melinda holds a negative view, but through the mirror the author portrays her change in perspective. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the author uses the symbol of a mirror to reflect Melinda’s change in perspective.

Early on, the author uses Melinda’s negative view of herself to show her difficulty with growth. When Melinda is looking at her reflection in the mirror she is criticizing herself, “It looks like my mouth belongs to someone else, someone I don’t even know.” (Anderson 17). Then, Melinda takes down the mirror and puts it in her closet, facing the wall. Melinda hates herself so much that she doesn’t want to look at herself, the author uses this to highlight her negative view. This is because Melinda believes the rape was her fault, and she has come to have difficulty with change in her perspective. Moreover, Melinda has a hate for mirrors due to her negative view. When Melinda is at school she is decorating, “The first thing I do is go to the mirror. It is screwed to the wall, so I cover it with a poster of Maya Angelou.” (50). By having Melinda cover the mirror with a poster shows how much she despises the mirror. Melinda feels this way because the mirror shows her damaged self, something Melinda wants to change. In the beginning of the book Melinda hates herself so much she can’t look at mirrors, this symbolizes her difficulty with growth. She is avoiding what happened to her, and she thinks she is to blame for the assault. This is how she deals with what happened, by hiding away from herself. 

Later on, the author uses Melinda’s changed view to demonstrate her growth in perspective. When Andy tries to rape Melinda a second time, she speaks up and fights back. In the process, she breaks a mirror to use against him, “Shards of glass slip and into the sink...I reach in and wrap my fingers around a triangle of glass. I hold it to Andy Evan’s neck.” (Anderson 195). By having Melinda use the mirror to protect herself, it symbolizes her changed relationship with the mirror. At the beginning, Melinda hated the mirror because it depicted her damaged self. But now Melinda uses the mirror to defend herself, in standing up to Andy Evan. Furthermore, Melinda has a changed perspective on what happened. When Melinda is adding the last parts for her artwork, she reflects on what happened to her, “It wasn’t my fault. He hurt me. It wasn’t my fault. I’m not going to let it kill me. I can grow.” (198). By having Melinda reflect on what happened to her, the author portrays Melinda’s changed view. Melinda hated herself because she believed that it was her fault that she was raped. But now she knows that it wasn't her fault and she can grow. Because of Melinda’s changed view of herself and her relationship with the mirror, she has a growth in perspective. She has come to understand that the rape was not her fault, and regained her image of herself. Although Melinda is not at the end of her journey, she has still shown growth in her perspective.

The author uses mirrors to symbolize Melinda’s perspective throughout her journey. In the beginning, Melinda would hide away from everything, but by the end of the book Melinda doesn’t feel the need to hide. The author uses this to show Melinda gaining the strength to fight back and protect herself. Through this she learns and understands that the rape was not her fault, and that she can grow. Without this Melinda may never have had a change in view, and growth in perspective. In the end, we learn that our perspectives of ourselves may be deceiving and that it takes time to learn and grow from it.