A De-shelled turtle

          Melinda wears turtle necks, which is complete symbolism for Melinda being like a turtle and hiding inside of a shell.  The shell is her skin.  Melinda is hiding inside of her own body, but it is like she can't break out of her shell.  She is stuck inside of her own body.  This is why I believe the theme of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is being trapped.

           On page 95, it says "I'm allergic to hornets.  One sting and my skin bubbles with hives and my throat closes up."  I believe that Melinda isn't really allergic to hornets, she is just trying to say that when she is talking to someone and they say something she is reminded of something that bothers her, she shuts down.  Like turtles, when they get scared, they go back in their shells.  It's like she is getting pulled back into her body prison as soon as she pokes her head out of her shell. 

         On page 47, it says "Now, when I really want to leave, no one will give me a ride."  Here Melinda is looking for someone to break her shell from the outside since her trying from the inside didn't work.  Yet there is no one to help Melinda, or more correctly, there is no one  that wants to help Melinda.

          No one understood Melinda, but did anyone even try?  Melinda needed help to break out and be freed from the prison inside herself.  The thing that finally released her was the bathroom stall filled with comments that encouraged her that she wasn't alone against Andy Evans.  Melinda no longer needs her shell.  It is simply a discarded memory.

Untitled

You're my latest crime

Just lost track of time

When I look at you, what do I see?

My other half, lookin' right back at me

So why, why did you go

After I let my feelings show

I would have let my walls come down

But by then you had already left town

It was all just an act

But there were things that you lacked

Like commitment and truth

Back in our youth

Oh, to be young

Then one little slip of the tongue

Lies hurt, but the truth is worse

Puts everything in reverse

Except for time

Loving you isn't a crime

So why was I beaten for it

Your mother had a fit

'Cause a grimy little city kid isn't good enough

But she didn't know that kids from the city are tough

And know how to deal with the rich, and people that don't ever wait

Boy, thought we'd be together, and you'd be my forever mate

Oh, love leaves you scared, but don't even get me started on hate.

Whatever

Don't worry, if my last opportunity door

closes, I'll just jump through a window.

Normal is no more.

It was so last season.

Don't bother talking to me,

I've lost all reason

I think it's somewhere under my bed

Or maybe in my black hole closet

Lost it just like my marbles, my poor head

People  glance at me, once, then twice

I bet they're jealous, just kidding.

My life is a dice

That is not at all even

'Cause I'm just odd

And I'm sittin' here believin'

That somethin' good is gonna happen to me

But do I really want it to?

Because I'm fine as you can see

Maybe insane, but that's no crime

Over optimistic, but not at all friendly.

Never in a rush, I've got time.

I'm just an average joe

Only a step up from a crazy cat lady

I've got a pet squirrel, he's my bro

I'm a crazy insane psychopath

A lazy bum, couch potato

That aced his way through math

Whatever, I don't care,

It don't matter

I've seen my fair share

Of things, in this world

Now I'm on to the next

'Cause I've spun and jumped and been twirled

I've eaten and slept, swam and flew.

Been to the moon and back, even held a star

But did that really happen, no one knew

'Cause I'm just me

In my own world, takin' on life by the stride

Me. Just me.  It's all I'll ever be.

Silence.

Breathe and you will break it.

Shattered in pieces.

Crumbling away before me.

The wind, the last desperate gasps of Earth trying to take one last breath

Before it is no more.

Before the last tear falls.

Before the memories come back and I am torn in half from the inside.

Before I am tempted to take one last look at the silhouette of the human who I loved.

Loved.

No more.

Never again.

Valentine's Day Gone Bad

Roses are bloody
Violets are sickly blue
People are dying
And so are you.

The sky, a blank face

The sun and moon its eyes

Fluffy dimples, twinkling freckles,

A stormy temper.

A creature staring back at me

Not sure what to think

Of a human who stares at the sky

The Woods

Crack.

They're coming.

Run.

Rocks,

Teeth.

They bite my leg.

A tear upon my cheek

And a matching red one

Upon my shin.

They have come.

For me.

Take me.

If you dare.

I am the woods.

Hidden.

Watching.

Cut every tree down.

It will still grow.

I am the tree.

I will let you think you are hiding.

I am the broken twigs.

I will reveal you.

I am the earth.

I will show the way.

I am everything that guides you and gives you away.

I am the weed that no matter how many times you try to destroy,

 I will keep growing back.

I am the air that gives you your last breath.

I am the roots that will soak up your blood and tears.

I will deceive you

And you will believe that you knew why you have come.

A Predictable Future

          When you think of Holocaust books, you think of the life of Jewish children.  Normally, that's what Holocaust books are about.  Markus Zusak, however, decided to take a different turn.

           The Book Thief is about the life of a girl named Liesel in 1942.  In this book, it isn't a Jew hiding from the Germans, but Germans hiding a Jew.  The question is: is it an irony or a tragedy?  Death may be telling the tale, but this bloodbath actually happened.  Either way, it's not going to end well. 

          Death himself already said that Rudy, Liesel's best friend, would die, he just hasn't told us the details yet.  As for Liesel, I predict that she will die.  Rudy dying will be like a part of her dying and Liesel has already lost Max, her mom, her brother, her adopted  father has just been sent into the war again, and she never had a real father, she already has one foot in the grave.  Mentally she will be dead after Rudy dies so all that needs to happen is for her to die physically.  Almost all Holocaust books end in a sad way.

           For example, Sarah's Key is another Holocaust book about a Jewish girl that gets sent to a concentration camp and escapes with a friend named Rachel.  By the end of the book, she has lost her mother, father, brother, and Rachel.  She also looses her mind and commits suicide from having to deal with too much grief and regret.  

          One way or another, Liesel's life will end within the pages of The Book Thief.  

Immortal Valentine

Why do you give me a still heart?

Are you trying to show me mine own?

Is it you offering your heart to me?

Don't you know I don't want it?

Have you not seen me take the other's?

Why are you not running away?

Are you going to call me names like the others?

Is that why you came?

Don't you know I never trust?

Have you not heard anything?

Why do you stand there still?

Are you regretting your appearance?

Is that a tear upon your cheek?

Don't you know I don't return your love?

Have you not seen the proof?

Was that the sound of a beating heart, coming from my chest?

I'm trapped inside of here still,

I just can't climb to the top of that hill

Be rich and famous, we will,

 you said, you said, you said, but what about me?

Oh can't you see,

This isn't about my dreams and wishes, it's not about us or we,

It never was

Forget it because

The night before it happened 'twas

The absolute silence of the eye of the storm

The next day, your death they must conform

Yes, the soul gone, but the body still warm

Still

Still, unmoving, frozen with fear.

Still, not breathing.

Still, still waiting, it's all so clear.

Still unwanted.

Still standing here.