“A Monster Calls” and “A Bridge to Terabithia” Comparative Essay Both Connor in A Monster Calls and Jess in A Bridge to Terabithia navigate the loss of a loved one by retreating to isolation, however their grief journeys diverge due to their denial. In Connor’s case, for the months leading up to his mother’s death, his denial and isolation initially acts as his protective shield. Connor generally harbours his thoughts to himself, isolating himself from his classmates and others in his everyday life. Before his mother’s passing, Connor tried exceptionally hard to keep his distance from his dad and grandmother, especially his grandmother. Connor views his grandmother as someone who wants to meddle in his relationship with his mother. He is determined …show more content…
Once Connor realises that he will be incapable of processing his grief alone, he reaches a breaking point. His breaking point helps him to realise that his grandmother is “not always a good guy, nor is [she] a bad one,” and that she is indeed there to help him in his time of grief. Connor ends up reaching out to his father and grandmother, and slowly they begin to rekindle their relationship. In contrast, Jess’ family dynamic is strained due to financial issues. His parents, especially his father, are always working to provide for Jess and his siblings, for that reason his parents leave little emotional space for him. When Jess opens up to Leslie and says, “I guess nobody notices anything anymore,” it reflects Jess’ feeling of being unseen and unheard by his parents. In the scene where Jess’ dad attempts to hug him immediately after Leslie’s death, Jess pulls away. His actions showcase the emotional distance between him and his dad. However, as Jess begins to process Leslie’s death, he is left emotionally overwhelmed, this leads him to breaking his cycle of isolation and turning to his dad for …show more content…
In his time of grief, Jess also turns to May Belle as a support system. At first, when Jess heard the news about Leslie’s sudden death, his first instinct was to isolate himself from his sister. Eventually, Jess begins to use May Belle as his beacon, and over time she becomes his primary support system. By breaking the cycle of his isolation, May Belle and the rest of Jess’ family can now support him in dealing with the loss of Leslie. Both Connor from A Monster Calls and Jess from A Bridge to Terabithia experience the pain of losing a loved one. They both utilise denial as a coping mechanism for their loss, however their methods of creating a fantastical world differ. Both characters build a fantastical escape as a way to shield themselves from their harsh reality. From Connor’s perspective, he uses the monster in his imagination to confront his truth. The monster’s stories are all related to themes of death, anger, fear, and acceptance. These stories help him relate to his personal life and help him to process the severity of his mother’s illness. Connor struggles to put his thoughts into words; hence the monster tells Connor stories to help Connor to speak his
Kristina starts using drugs during a trip to visit her birth father in Albuquerque. Kristina is already feeling unaccepted by her family. She describes her mother as distant, her step-father as heavy-handed, her older sister as distracted, and younger brother as spoiled; however, thinking of her father, she is hopeful. She is deeply disappointed when she learns that her father is not the prince that she imagined him to be. Instead, he is distant
Nettles and Catrin present parent-child relationships in different ways, possibly as a result of the authors’ personal experiences. The father in Nettles tries to protect his son from any pain and danger the world throws at him. In Catrin, there is too a parent-child relationship between the mother and daughter, but at times it seems strained and fraught with conflict.
She needs to be strong for the whole family while dealing with this tough situation, and most importantly, she has to be encouraging for her daughter. Jessica’s mom murmurs to her, “Things will get better. I promise you, they will” (Van Draanen 58). Her mom knows that her life is grim and it feels like the end of the world to her daughter. She can only make her feel better by continuing to encourage her and give her love and support. Jessica thinks to herself, “She waves back, but even from the curb I can feel her worry, and I suddenly realize that it has nothing to do with the wheelchair or with me falling. The last time Fiona drove me away in her Subaru, it took me more than a week to come home” (Van Draanen 77). Her mom has to decide whether she is going to live in fear of her daughter getting hurt every time she leaves home. This accident was a trying time for everybody in their family and it affected all of
As Rob’s Dad gets to hear everything that Rob was trying to hold in, from the loss of his Mom. His Dad understands and has the same problem holding back his emotions of the loss of his wife, and how it impacts Robs
The signs of Trent’s mental health were around his parents for his entire life, sadly, they didn’t know what they were. Because of this, later in their son’s life he has trouble letting go of an ex-girlfriend pushes him to
Before the move to Coghill, Tom wanted his old life back. He sees the accident as the end of his life, though this he seems to have lost connection to his family and his sense of identity. Tom feels guilty and ashamed about the irrevocable consequences of Daniel’s irresponsibility and the impact this had on other people and their families. Retreats into a depressed state which feels empty and black. After the accident, Tom’s life was changed forever.
she gets flashbacks of the past incidents that occurred all because of her uncle. This story overall,
Soon after, the Monster discovers the De Lacey family and starts to learn the language, emotions, and many other human traits. For example, when the Monster watches Mr. De Lacey comforting Agatha by hugging, playing the guitar, and telling stories, the creature expresses his feeling as a mixture of pain and pleasure such as he never experienced before. He also learns that the family is poor, and instantly quits stealing food from them. So the Monster starts to have an ability to think reasonably and sympathize with people.
It is clear that in their marriage, her husband makes her decisions on her behalf and she is expected to simply follow blindly. Their relationship parallels the roles that men and women play in marriage when the story was written. The narrator’s feelings of powerlessness and submissive attitudes toward her husband are revealing of the negative effects of gender roles. John’s decision to treat the narrator with rest cure leads to the narrator experiencing an intense feeling of isolation, and this isolation caused her mental decline. Her descent into madness is at its peak when she grows tears the wallpaper and is convinced that “[she’s] got out at last, in spite of [John] and Jennie… and [they] can’t put her back!”
Through the story the protagonist a young teenage boy who loses his mother after her suicide herself is then followed by the death of his father in a car crash. At such a young age this boy describes the pain he goes through by the way he responds with regard to how others treat him. He demonstrates how grief can alter a person
Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia explores relationships between family, friends and strangers. Bridge to Terabithia shows the importance of friendship and the powerful effect it can have on peoples lives. As Jesse and Leslie build the magical land of terabithia their friendship also grows. Beginning as loners, their friendship provides them both with happiness and security, a place where they can be the best version of themselves. Jesse slowly realises that his friendship with May Belle is still important, they become more than just brother and sister, they become friends as well. The unlikely friendship of Leslie and Janice Avery, the school bully, grows as Janice feels betrayed by her best friends.
The Narrator’s family treats her like a monster by resenting and neglecting her, faking her death, and locking her in her room all day. The Narrator’s family resents her, proof of this is found when the Narrator states “[My mother] came and went as quickly as she could.
Early in the film , a psychologist is called in to treat the troubled child :and she calmed the mother with a statement to the effect that, “ These things come and go but they are unexplainable”. This juncture of the film is a starting point for one of the central themes of the film which is : how a fragile family unit is besieged by unusual forces both natural and supernatural which breaks and possesses and unites with the morally challenged father while the mother and the child through their innocence, love, and honesty triumph over these forces.
Throughout the film a focus on family and the dynamics is prominent. A traumatic event, the loss of a son, brother, and friend, has influenced the Jarrett greatly. Due to the circumstances in which Conrad, a severely depressed teenager and the main character, was present during the death of his brother, feelings of guilt had built up in this young man. A great deal of stress and tension is built between the family members because of this tragic accident. Here is where the concept of, change in one part of the familial system reverberates through out other parts. (Duty, 2010) The relationship between the Conrad and his mother become even more absent because, in the film it is presented to show that the mother blames and has not forgiven Conrad for the death of his brother Buck. Six months after the death of his brother Conrad attempts suicide with razors in the bathroom of his home. His parents commit him to a psychiatric hospital and eight months later, he is trying to resume his “old” life.
Friendship can be shown through the words of anyone in any form, whether it is short or long, in a simple poem to a complicated novel, even in a simple common book such as, Bridge to Terabithia. The author, Paterson, uses many of reasonable literary elements in her book, such elements encompass: character, plot, setting, theme, style, point of view, and tone. These seven elements show us that friendship between the main characters, Jesse and Leslie, in Bridge to Terabithia, although interrupted by many everyday occurrences, can develop quickly, without one's realization. And that friendship, that was suddenly started, can be suddenly gone with the least suspected. In this instance, friendship is suddenly ended, there would be the realization of feelings that maybe there was something more then friendship; something not initially felt when the friendship actually once existed.