Nail Polish on a New Carpet

Author's Note- This is my scene analysis for the novel Speak.  I decided to analyze a scene that helps us discover some interesting things about Heather and Melinda.

One of the scenes that we can truly learn about Heather in is the nail polish scene.  A bottle of nail polish spills on her white carpet in her room.  Not that much of a big deal, you would think, right?  To a normal person it wouldn't be.  But Heather's not exactly something I'd call normal.  As soon as it's spilled, she throws herself on her bed and starts sobbing.  Not just crying- full on sobbing.  And when Melinda tries to help by cleaning it up and ends up making it worse, Heather becomes inconsolable.  Although it might seem like just your average teenage temper tantrum, it serves a greater purpose than that.  It's actually symbolism.  The clean, white carpet represents her reputation.  She's got a fresh start, a clean slate.  She's obviously very excited about this.  Nobody knows about her.  No one knows about the things she may or may not have done at her past school.  She can make a brand new fist impression on everybody.   When the nail polish stains the carpet, it symbolizes a stain on her reputation.  It reminds her of her past mistakes, and the mistakes she most likely will make at this school.  When Melinda tries to help fix it, the negative mark on her reputation only gets worse, kind of like when Melinda tries to help her with the Martha projects she was given, but only ruins centerpieces and pillows instead.  Melinda becomes the nail polish on Heather's brand new carpet.  She becomes the problem, rather than solution, in Heather's social life.