Melody reflects that her inability to forget anything is good, though often frustrating, since she is unable to express herself. Once, Melody heard “Elvira” by the Oak Ridge Boys and tried to point to the radio to signal to her mother that she wanted to hear it again however, her mother was unable to decode Melody’s jerking and twitching. Melody herself likes country music, which calls to mind the scent and color of fresh lemons. Melody has a synesthetic response to music: when her mother plays classical music, Melody sees the color blue and smells fresh paint her father prefers jazz, which is brown and tan, and smells of wet dirt. Melody has absorbed every detail of her entire life, including events, textures, and smells. With frustration, Melody notes that many people who meet her don’t bother to ask her name, as if her name isn’t important.īased on her memory and the videos her father recorded when she was a baby, Melody can recall precise details of the day she was brought home from the hospital after her birth. Melody considers what other people see when they look at her: strapped to a pink wheelchair, Melody has curly brown hair and brown eyes, one of which droops she is small for her age, and has thin, unused legs her head wobbles and she occasionally drools sometimes, her body spasms and flails. The stiffness in her hands and arms means she can’t hold onto a pencil or spoon, though she has enough dexterity to mash the buttons on a television remote and to move her wheelchair by grabbing knobs attached to the wheels. Melody is unable to walk or talk she can’t feed herself or use the bathroom without assistance. Melody reveals that, at her current age of eleven, she has never spoken a single word. However, the words and memories have always been trapped in her head. Melody remembers all the phrases, expressions, jokes, and love songs that she has absorbed over time she retains the memory of every song her father has sung to her and every phrase her mother has whispered since Melody was two years old. She lists a number of unconnected words-including pomegranate, iridescent, sneeze, wish, worry-and notes that such words, each as unique as a snowflake, have piled up deep within her.

The narrator, Melody Brooks, opens the novel by commenting on how she has always been surrounded by words.

Out of my mind by sharon m draper