LeeAnne Neilson

Childrens Literature
October 8, 2014
Blindness
Bridge to Terabithia is a story about individuals who have the gift of sight but are
actually blind. They interact with a variety of people but are totally unaware of their dreams,
sorrows, longings, aspirations, individual worth, and emotional needs.
The first example of blindness comes from Jesss mom. She cannot see the amount of
work Jess does around the farm or his loving care for May Belle. She often says statements to
Jess such as whatcha mean lying there in the middle of the floor doing nothing anyway? (p.
85), when in reality Jess is up before the sun in order to run, does the milking, and occasionally
fixes peanut butter sandwiches for the little girls and himself (p. 11). After he finishes picking
the green beans, he helps his mother can the beans. He does more work than his older sisters
Ellie and Brenda, who always manage to get out of work. He patiently helps May Belle dress
and undress her Barbie doll and solves her bullying problem. Even though his mother cannot see
his contribution and often calls him lazy, Jess realizes that he is often left to do the work around
his home.
The mother is not the only individual blind to Jesss needs. His father is so exhausted
from his daily commute to Washington and long hours away from the home that he does not take
time to emotionally or physically interact with Jess. He expects him to be a man (p. 43).
Whenever Jess sees his dad grab the little ones to his shoulder, or lean down and hug them his
heart aches. It seemed to him that he had been thought too big for that since the day he was
born (p. 20). The only interaction his father has with him seems to be critical statements such
as, mighty late with the milking, arent you, son? (p. 20). He only views Jess as a working

adult and not a child that desires loving attention. He also fails to recognize that drawing is
therapeutic of Jess because when he drew the peace would start at the top of his muddled brain
and seep down through his tired and tensed-up body (p.12). Although Jess carries the same
name as his father, his father is clueless about his sons strengths. Jess is a peacemaker, caring,
problem solver, resourceful, talented, and hard worker.
The students at Lark Creek are also blind. They had all hated Leslie. . . . Even after
theyd given up trying to make Leslie miserable, theyd kept on despising her (p.158). Despite
this, Leslie influenced the dynamics in the classroom and on the playground in a positive way.
She was instrumental in tackling the bully issue.
Leslie and Jess were also blind to Janice Averys needsthe real giant in their lives (p.
61). Because of her dominance on the playground, they never realized that she was a very
unfortunate person (p. 95) who was beaten by her father. These experiences helped to open
Jesss eyes and resulted in him becoming a more compassionate person, along with the influence
of Leslie who opened his eyes by pushing back the walls of his mind and mak[ing] him see
beyond to the shining worldhuge and terrible and beautiful and very fragile? (p. 160).
Jess himself was also blind on occasion. Concerning his teacher whom he had nicknamed
Monster Mouth Myers (p. 158), he never realized how wonderful it had been for Mrs. Myers
to have Leslie as a student until she tells him I never had such a student. In all my years of
teaching. I shall always be grateful. Although he referred to her as a monster, he did not realize
she had a compassionate side until they stood together in the basement hallway, crying over
Leslie Burke and at that point he wanted to unsay all the things he had said about her and
suddenly appreciated her for helping him realize that he never has to forget Leslie (p. 159).

Helen Keller once said, The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no
vision, and even though blindness is an underlying theme in this story, some characters finally
begin to gain vision. Jess realizes that it [is] up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and
caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength (p. 161).