Goodbye Stranger By Rebecca Stead: Character Analysis

The characters in Rebecca Stead’s book Goodbye Stranger are all impacted by something that will harm you if you use it carelessly, but will do good for you if you use it right. Some people think digital communication is bad, because of cyberbullying, freaks, and texting. Now when I say texting I mean it as in if you send a message it's not yours to decide who sees it. Digital communication can also be useful. You can keep in touch with people, do business with people without being face to face, you can also use digital communication in emergencies. In the end it narrows down to one question. Is it worth it? The characters in Goodbye stranger all have their opinions. They all used digital communication, but were impacted in different ways.

Tab blamed bridge for not stopping Em and for taking the photo. Tab was mad, but she promised bridge and Em they wouldn’t fight, “Love you. Still mad”[Stead 154]. This was a text sent from tab to bridge. Texting is a way of expressing there feelings, but sometimes it’s easier to do it over text. It was, because of the pact they made as young kids that made tab want to be safe and text, so they wouldn’t get into an argument. It also shows she cared a lot about how digital communication hurt her other friend Em, so which was why she was still mad. Even though she uses digital communication carefully and it didn’t affect her It affected her friend and that’s what mattered most to her. Celeste, she was a whole new book and was written about one day instead of her main story. She probably felt thankful for digital communication. Her parents would have freaked out even more if she hadn’t contacted them, “Hi, Mom-I’m ok, Just need ONE mental-health day, see you later and pls don’t worry at all”[Stead 93]. She was probably thankful that there was another way to access digital communication, because her baby sitter took her phone. Celeste’s mom still was worried sick