Parallel Worlds in “Bridge to Terabithia”
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson is the story of two children, adolescents, who came up with their own, fantastic country, hiding from the world that does not accept and understand them. This book is about life and death, about the fragility of life and the way of life, about that how hard to find friends, and that people should forgive even enemies. It is sad, but incredibly touching story of friendship, loyalty and love, the first mistakes and incorrigible consequences that children faced living in parallel worlds.
Bridge to Terabithia is a story about the friendship of two very different and very lonely children, who invented a magical world, in which they were brave king and queen. Pure warm relations connect Jess and Leslie; they mutually teach each other new things, learn about the world, learn new concepts, build their secret country Terabithia.
The book says that nothing is in vain and that even the loss is an acquisition. The style of the author makes the reader's imagination see the created worlds and corners of fairy tales in order to escape from reality.
The book tells that each person has his or her own dream, imagination, and sometimes he or she has the urgent need to hide and to collect from nothing his or her own world to escape the reality.
Life of Jesse Aarons, closed and immersed in of his own world teenage, is quite gloomy. He has no friends at school he is bullied constantly, and, since his parents are low on money, he is forced to continue wearing shoes for the older sisters.
However, then he meets Leslie, children become best friends and reveal their secrets: Jess shows his drawings to his new friend, and she dedicates him to the world of her invented fantasies, in which there is no place for pain and misunderstanding, as in real life (White).
Walking alone in the forest, they are moving through the river flowing there using a bungee and discover abandoned house on a tree on the other side of the forest. This house becomes their secret place, about which only they know. There they invent for themselves a fairy-tale world and call it Terabithia (White). After that, the boy's life is flipped and he begins to live in this new fantastic world, finding friendship with Leslie salvation from their lives.
Quiet narrative corresponds to the book title – it is difficult to guess where the author leads the reader. The book tells the story of the monotony of the rural way of life, studying at school on a background of adolescence and related problems.
Nevertheless, after the appearance of a neighbor girl, Leslie, the awareness that she is the main ally of the soft touch dreams of Jesse becomes gradually. Leslie appeared in the life of Jesse suddenly.
Initially, he did not like her, but she caught him with her uniqueness, otherness of the other inhabitants of the little town. Incomprehensible to him person, in which life boils and simmers, breaks the boy's life completely: “He believed her because there in the shadowy light of the stronghold everything seemed possible. Between the two of them they owned the world and no enemy” (Paterson).
Her parents do not make ends meet, they simply live and enjoy life. This cute little girl was able to turn his world upside down, to have a look at their lives and the lives of others with different eyes, with a fresh look, getting him into the world of endless fantasy, where they can become whom they wanted.
This book is full of some real magic, which can really happen in everyone's life because for this just a little dream is needed. Leslie enters the life of Jesse, turns everything upside down and flies away leaving only for his memories.
Despite the fact that this story has a fairy-tale world, real children - Jess and Leslie, play major roles. In the foreground, there are their lives, everyday troubles, feelings of loneliness and injustice that they have and that, as a result, pushing them to create their own fictional country, where Jess and Leslie become the king and queen.
They were the rulers, whom strength deals with all the hardship and offenders. The invention in this book is not a goal but a means of escape from the problems, the protection of others, and death is not the collapse of the hopes and the starting point for something new in themselves. After the death of Leslie, Jess is going through tough loss.
He blames himself for the death of Leslie, believing that if that day invited her, the tragedy would not have happened. He comes into their secret place in the woods, in their fantasy world, where they were well and wanting to return Leslie calls her. There the father of Jesse finds and comforts him, assuring him that he did not do anything. Friendship with Leslie transformed Jesse: he is from a nervous boy become courageous and purposeful.
This helps him get through the tragedy. In order not to be lonely in his world, re-imagining around himself Terabithia, Jess overcomes the grief of his loss, builds a bridge across the river and invites his younger sister to a fabulous journey. Previously, he always refused to take her into the woods, but now brings her there, as a princess Terabithia, and he becomes a king of this imaginable world (Paterson).
The book touches on many problems topics of modernity, such as fear, confusion, and school bullying, the issue of “fathers and children", and the children's death. However, this fictional parallel world helped the hero to overcome many of the difficulties of life and to escape from the world of school wars and household chores. After his death, Leslie cannot leave without a trace, since she managed to build her Terabithia.
Katherine Patterson opposed the sudden death with the most effective advice that can be offered: it is necessary to build a bridge. Each Terabithia left without its creator, loses its colors and becomes empty. The debt of remaining people is not to let these worlds disappear.
Fantasy is a way for children to run away from pressing on them not the children's problems, from loneliness and misunderstanding. After all, when, albeit not for long, a devoted friend, who learned to appreciate every moment of life, was close to someone, a person can conquer all his fears and prove that he is worthy of the honor of being the king of Terabithia. Even death, how terrible it was, is not in vain if it is the beginning of the construction of new bridges.
Works Cited
Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. E-reading.club. Web.
White, Caitlin. 'Bridge to Terabithia' Lives On, So Try Not to Cry (But You Will, Anyway). BUSTLE. 2014. Web.
