Speak: Sybolism

     During our group discussion that happened a few days ago, we discussed about friendship. We talked about how important friendship it is and how it can lead to many changes upon our feelings. Her parents support is partly the cause of Melinda's struggles and how they don't care much about her feelings. The struggles that Melinda is going through might be the disappointments in life and the unhappy things that she is not able to look past. We also talked about the importance of symbolism and how it can show how Melinda is thinking.

     In the point where Heather doesn't want to be Melinda's friend anymore. We though that this has a lot of impact on Melinda herself. Heather might have another reason to break up with Melinda and we think that Heather still wants to be Melinda's friend in the inside, but in her heart, she want to fit in with the Marthas. Heather would stick a note in Melinda's locker saying, "Thanks for understanding" and give back a gift that she received. This symbolizes that Heather doesn't want to leave Melinda and make her feel regret.  She gives back a present that she has received from Melinda, so that she could make a new friends that was more better than her. Heather doesn't want Melinda to be trapped within her and she wants her to move on. In the leaving of Heather, Melinda has finally realized how important friendship is and the need of having someone to talk to and and for support. In the beginning she would think of friendship as a accessory that she could throw out, but now she feels like one of them that has been throw out. In that moment she has learned that friendship is all about care and that she will appreciate the meaning of friendship.

     We then talked about the importance of art and the meaning behind pictures and images. We thought that Melinda can express her feelings toward her paintings. Even though as might she can not describe the meaning of the picture that she has creates, Mr. Freeman is able to tell the meaning back to her and it is as she has imagined. At times, Melinda would see a image of happiness in her mind that she might want to draw, we think that she want to look towards the place where she might be able to fit in with the crowd. It can say that she has learned to put little bits of pieces of her past away and look toward the road ahead. The past can never be changed and that for the mistakes that you make, you can never change it, Melinda has learned to think this way and learning to accept them and create a new future.

The Garcia Girls: Symbolism

     The ending has finally arrived, or the beginning of the whole story. I thought the ending of the book was very confusing and I didn't understand the part where she says, "There is still times I wake up at three o'clock in the morning and peer into the darkness. At that hour and in that loneliness, I hear her, a black furred thing lurking in the corners of my life, her magenta mouth opening, wailing over some violation that lies at the center of my art." (Alvarez 290). I think this might mean that the mother cat is still haunting over her. I think that this symbolizes how she has lost the bonds to her home and wasn't able to find her own roots. The feeling of leaving the Domestic Republic and adjusting to the surrounding around her just frightens her. This was the part that I don't really understand because the last vignette kind of goes back to her present life and isn't the book going in chronological order. This was something that really confused me.

     I think that symbolism is used greatly in the beginning and the end of the book to explain the events that has happened. Especially in the ending where the kittens incident occurs. Yolanda finds the kittens in the shed without their mothers. I think the kittens has a meaning to this story and it symbolizes the Garcia girls and how they left their homeland; just like how the kittens was left without their mothers. Yolanda names one of the kittens and its name was Schwarz. She was taken away from their mother by Yolanda as it represents how they got taken away from their homes. When Schwarz was wounded, it shows that the girls had a hard time adapting to the American culture suffering through many difficulties on the way. When Schwarz gets lost and could not return to the coal shed, it shows that when they girls came back to their homes as adults, they were not able to find their roots back as it states in the first chapter. I think the symbolism of the kittens kind of shape the whole meaning of the whole book and how they adapted to the American culture.

     I think that there is more meaning to this book than I have right now. I think that if I really want to get the whole meaning of this book, I would have to read it over again because since I kind of know the beginning, I have to connect her history and past together to get her true meaning. I think that this book is intended to be read again to be fully understandable, and it tells readers that books have a big story behind it, and you will only discover the secrets when you pay attention to the details.