Speakne starting your very first day of high school; you're excited but nervous. Going back to school is a time for you to re- unite with your friends and start the new year fresh. Unfortunately this was not the case for the main character, Melinda. In art class, Melinda would draw trees to express her feelings. These trees seemed to represent her life and school year. This tree represents her depression from beginning, to middle, to the very end of the story.
In the beginning, when Melinda’s art teacher told her to draw her first tree, she drew it black, dead, and struck by lightning. This represented her life in the beginning of the year. Everyone hated her and she had absolutely no friends at all. The tree showed how she was dead inside, had nothing, and was very depressed about her life. Just like how the tree was dead, dark and was standing alone. I think Melinda liked drawing these trees because it allowed her to get all of her emotion out on a piece of paper without saying any actual words.
Not only was the tree dead and dark in the beginning, but it also was in the middle of the story too. You would expect her to draw the tree more happy because you would think that she would be getting better. Unfortunately, this was not the case. In the middle of the story, Melinda still drew her tree dull. It wasn’t as bad as the beginning when it was completely black and getting hit by lighting. But it still seemed to be dull and boring. The reason why I think the tree got a tiny bit better was because Melinda found a friend, Heather. Now at least Melinda had someone and was not alone. Sadly, this did this did not last long.
Finally, at the end of the story, when Melinda draws her very last tree, she draws it getting a lot better. She drew it dead on the bottom and pretty on top. This symbolizes that Melinda is coming out of her depression and is starting to be a normal person again. Melinda also tells everyone why she was so depressed in the first place. She admits that she got raped by Andy Evans, a senior, at a party. And that is why she called the cops. In the story, on page 197, when Melinda says “He hurt me. It wasn’t my fault. And I’m not going to let it kill me. I can grow.” This is when she notices that it is never going to change and that she has to get over it. This is when Melinda comes out of her depression. This shows in the tree that she drew.
In my opinion, I thought it was really stupid of Melinda to not tell any of her friends in the first place. This could have solved many problems. People wouldn’t have hated her and she would have had all of her friends back. To keep quiet about it made Melinda’s life a lot worse. Luckily she got over it. Many people need help and guidance to help overcome their depression, In this case, Melinda did. And everything turned out well for her.
