top of page
Search
  • Writer's pictureRina M. Steen

The Power of Imagination and Coping with Grief: An Analysis of Bridge to Terabithia



The Power of Imagination and Coping with Grief: An Analysis of Bridge to Terabithia

“Imagination: the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality” (Merriam-Webster). Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson’s Newbery Medal-winning 1977 novel, tells the tale of two children, Jesse and Leslie, who together create the magical kingdom of Terabithia. After the artistic Jesse loses a footrace game to the new girl Leslie, he becomes inspired by Leslie’s outgoing and courageous nature to be brave himself—and the two of them can be whoever they want to be in Terabithia. But when a fatal accident results in Leslie’s death, Terabithia becomes more than just an imaginative place Jesse once shared with her. In the novel, Paterson uses the imaginative space of Terabithia to ignite Jesse’s suppressed creativity and later help him cope with the grief of losing Leslie.


Jesse Aarons is a young artist and a brother to four sisters, burdened by the chores of his family farm. Oppressed with the maturity of someone beyond his age, Jesse discourages his passion—art—knowing that it doesn’t fit into the version of himself he needs to be for his family. But it isn’t until meeting Leslie and swinging on a rope into Terabithia that Jesse “finds purpose in his life and how to best live it” (paraphrasing Jenkins). In the beginning, Jesse is rather aggressive—frustrated with his home life and suppressed creativity. But after meeting Leslie, she “shows [Jesse] how to have an imagination and boosts his emotional intelligence, as well as how to have confidence in himself” (Jenkins). Leslie’s involvement in Jesse’s life ignites his artistic side and helps it flourish in Terabithia. For example, Jesse, at one point, describes Leslie as “his other, more exciting self—his way to Terabithia and all the worlds beyond” (Paterson 59). Jesse comes to depend on Leslie—allowing her to feed his creativity with her retellings of Moby Dick—until he finally has the strength to do it himself, all while encompassed in the safe space of Terabithia.


While Terabithia, and therefore Leslie, gives Jesse’s life more meaning and purpose than ever before, it also becomes a valuable tool for coping with his grief after Leslie passes from a tragic accident while traversing into Terabithia. After Leslie’s death, Jesse acknowledges that “it was up to him now to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength” (Paterson 161). At that moment, Jesse realises all that Leslie taught him—courage, confidence, and creativity—he had within himself all along, and it is time to pay that knowledge forward. He brings his sister May Belle—who has consistently been a source of annoyance to Jesse—to Terabithia and crowns her as the new queen of the kingdom he created with Leslie. In doing so, it proves how “the departure of [Leslie] through death allows Jess to recognise the impact [she] left and understand how [he] can now become a caretaker and mentor to others” (Jenkins). Granting his sister entry into Terabithia gives Jesse the closure he needs regarding the finality of his friendship with Leslie, thus fulfilling his grief.


Terabithia is a safe space for Jesse to foster his creativity and cope with Leslie’s death and come to terms with the intricacies of growing up, thus balancing fantasy with reality. This idea of balance ties in with the significance of the novel’s title, wherein Jesse builds a bridge across the creek at the end of the story—the same creek cost Leslie her life to—so that he may forever be granted safe passage into Terabithia. Hence, Jesse bridges the gap between imagination and tragedy, sorrow and passion. And, like everything else in the novel, Leslie says it best that “even the Rulers of Terabithia come into it only at times of greatest sorrow or greatest joy” (Paterson 60).


Happy Reading!





Works Cited:

“Imagination: Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster,

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imagination.

Jenkins, Jaden. “Mortality within Children’s Literature: Fable versus Realism in the Cases of

Charlotte’s Web and Bridge to Terabithia.” 2020, https://doi.org/http://libres.uncg.edu

/ir/unca

Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. Harper Trophy, 1977.

8 views0 comments
bottom of page