Archetypes

      Hey readers, today I'll be talking about the archetypes in Speak. The first archetype in Speak is most definitely transformation. Melinda actually went through two transformation. In the beginning of the book she wanted to be popular and she wanted every one to like her. By the tenth page she no longer felt like like that. She felt insecure and she thought everyone hated her. She no longer wanted to be a near anybody or do anything. Her second transformation is when she's in the bathroom at the end of the book, as I mentioned in a earlier blog, and she realizes people are there for her. They understand what she is going through and they are listening to her.
      Another archetype in Speak is Mentor. Melinda thought she was all alone but throughout the book she had her art teacher cheering her on. Her art teacher understood her pain, even though he physically didn't go through it. He kept letting her redue her painting even though she was supposed to have done it months earlier. He kept failing all of her pictures because he couldn't see the life in them. On the last page of the book Mr Freeman says

"You get an A+. You worked hard on this.' He hands me a box of tissues. 'You've been through a lot, haven't you?' The tears dissolve the block of ice in my throat. I feel the frozen stillness melt down through inside me, dripping shards of ice that vanish in a puddle of sunlight on the stained floor. Words float up. 'Let me tell you about it."

       Sorry for the long quote but this ties both the transformation and the Mentor archetype together. I really liked this quote, because it showed how much Melinda had grown throughout the book. Before she couldn't tell anybody about herself. But after Andy tried to rape her again and got caught, people finally saw who she was. She was finally comfortable sharing her story with the world. The block of ice in her throat was melting at last.