bridge_terabithia

stranded

• stranded
  
  Jess feels abandoned/Lonely/ HELPLESS
  Jess does not want to admit she is dead.
  Atmosphere: tense/ thick with grief/ sense of heaviness about it.
  
  Jess- slowly trying to accept leslie’s death ‘ it didn’t fit’
  Thinks about how his schoolmates will leave him alone.
  Hates everyone for crying. He thinks they are mad for doing so. ( i.e. her grandmother/ her father, etc…)
  
  VALUE OF FRIENDSHIP
  Thinks abt how people should remember leslie.
  i.e. the clothes she wears- ‘people might snicker at the blue jeans and he didn’t want that;
  Wants every one else to RESPECT LESLIE.
• 
  BILL'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS LESLIE'S DEATH
  
• open about his grief-cries/ sobs openly about how sad he is about leslie’s death
  ‘voice broke completely’
  Hugs jess closely as if to comfort both himself and Jess
  ‘ body shaking’
  Accepts leslie’s death- makes plans for leslie to be cremated.
• Jess attitude
  
  Numbness/ immune to the fact that leslie is dead
  Resistance to the idea that leslie is dead.
  So numb- cant understand why bill is crying
  Annoyed with people for crying over her death
  ‘cremated’- important realization that leslie’s death was real
  
  Jess’ bewilderment/ confusion /in denial- how he wishes Bill’s behaviour would stop.
  To his relief- bill let go – feels stifled by bill
  
  ‘He wanted to get out of the house. It was smothering him.’
  – jess felt that he couldn’t breathe/ it was too depressing.
  
  Also annoyance/ anger with leslie
  ‘ you think it’s so great to die and make everyone carry on? Well it ain’t.’
  
  Use of short sentences to highlight jess’ sadness-‘Cremated. Turned to ashes. Not even dead. Never.’ Shows jess’ thought process- fragmented and shows that he is distraught.

Anger with everyone for bringing about leslie’s death

‘and now he was never going to see her again and all they could do was cry’ – shows how irrational jess has become

• 
  blames bill and judy for bringing leslie to lark creek.‘ Sock Bill In The Face’ – shows how angry jess is towards leslie’s death
  
  Jess’ feelings towards leslie’s death
  
  Intense sadness mixed with anger/ Thinks she betrayed him- Leslie had failed him
  Thinks she went to terabithia to show him up.
  Jess attitude to leslie’s death
  
  
  STRANDED
  
  Jess's emotions have turned on again, with a vengeance. When he tears back to his house, May Belle wants to know if he had seen Leslie laid out.
  
  May Belle wants to know what a dead person looks like, but Jess just hits her, hard. --> to release frustration
  
  
  He gathers up the paint set that Leslie gave him for Christmas, runs back to the creek, and throws it in. --> too painful to be reminded of her/ angry with everyone.

better relationship between father and son

• dad shows jess real concern here , listens to him, protects him and comforts him.
• shows that he loves jess, unlike how he treated jess previously.
• Jess's father approaches and tells him, "that was a damn fool thing to do."
• Jess is sobbing and screaming still, so his father gathers him into his lap, stroking his hair and comforting him.
  
  
  Eventually Jess calms down enough to ask his father whether he thinks that God damns non-Christians to hell.
• His father is surprised by the question, and replies that Jess has no need to worry about Leslie, that God would not send a little girl to hell.
• Jess is soothed.
  
  When they go back to the house, Jess is closer to feeling like himself than he has been all day.
• He is still in greiving, is incredibly tired and cannot seem to focus on the outside world.
• He is calmer and is able to accept later that leslie died.
  
  Later on, Bill comes by and asks Jess to take care of Prince Terrien while he and his wife go on a trip to Pennsylvania.
  
  Jess agrees, and sleeps with Prince Terrien that night, and he is comforted by the warm body of the dog Leslie had loved.

pressing on him.

posted by dot04 @ 7:39 PM