Speak 4 Discussion Questions

1. Discuss the evolvement of the name of the Marryweather High mascot and the debate over each name.

Answer: They couldn't figure out a name for the mascot. So they called it the Hornets.

2. What draws Melinda and Ivy together?

Answer: They are still best friends, and they draw a tree together. Plus they were watching the sad people with their parents. Ivy drew their faces of their expressions to their parents.

3. Do you agree or disagree with "Ten More Lies..." Why?

Answer: I do agree with some of the lies that she said in her thoughts. One was true that the teachers are here to listen to us for what we had to say that was on our minds.

4. Describe Melinda's inner turmoil when she discovers Rachel is dating Andy. What should she have done? Did she do the right thing?

Answer: She felt so terrible that she didn't tell her that Andy had raped her at that party over the summer. She should have told her at the party, but she was so scared that she wouldn't be friends with her again. She did the right thing by telling her, and Rachel also broke up with Andy when they were in Andy's car.

5. What is the symbolism of Mr. Freeman's statement, "...trees are flexible, so they don't snap. Scar it, give it a twisted branch-perfect trees don't exist...Be the tree" (p. 153).

Answer: Always be yourself and not someone else. Let yourself out in the open instead in the darkness all the time. Don't let your memories kill you, because it'll get a lot worse for your life and yourself.

6. How does Melinda begin to assert herself and find her voice?

Answer: When she was talking to Heather and telling her what she wants to do with her room. Plus the her mother was listening to her too, and she was happy that she stood up for herself for the first time ever in a long time.

7. What happens when Melinda decides to talk to Rachel?

Answer: It turns out to a big argument when she told Rachel that she got raped by Andy, but she didn't believe a word she said. Now that spoiled Rachel plans to go to prom with her boyfriend.

8. What do the entries under Melinda's graffiti in the bathroom reveal?

Answer: Her beautiful drawings of trees that she did for art class, and Mr. Freeman loved them so much.

9. What is the correlation between Mr. Sordindo's treatment and explanation of the diseased tree with Melinda's "survival?"

Answer: He kept cutting down the old tree, and together Melinda and her dad put some seeds in the ground to make a new tree from the start.

10. What happens at the prom?

Answer: Melinda goes with David, her lab partner and she was happy all over again.

11. What is the resolution to the story?

Answer: Melinda found herself again in the story, and she tells her mom about what happened to her that summer when she was raped by Andy.