preview

May Belle Character Analysis

Better Essays

All it takes is a little imagination to open your mind. Bridge to Teribithia (Lieberman, Levine, Paterson, & Csupo, 2007) is a story of a fifth grader Jesse “Jess” Aarons who is a lonely middle child living in a poor household. Jess is an artistically talented artist who loves to draw and paint. However, his father disapproves his artwork endeavors expecting him to be more of a man. Jess feels out of place in his family lacking a warm, loving family relationship. He lives in an unappreciated household where he is expected to do daily chores on his family farm. At school Jess is constantly teased, and bullied by his fellow classmates. Jess main ambition is to be the fastest runner in fifth grade in hope of receiving praise from his parents. …show more content…

In Bridge to Teribithia, some characters were depicted in ways that were considered either appropriate or not developmentally appropriate. For example, in the movie May belle is considered what is developmentally appropriate for her age. In lecture we discussed the preoperational stage from ages 2-7years, Paget’s developmental suggest that children are capable of understanding the usage of symbols, and also through symbolic pretend play. This is supported by Deloache’s dual representation, which he suggests children identify an object as one thing and use if for a different purpose. For example, May belle takes her dads work keys to use them as bells for Jess, and Leslie kingdom in Teribithia. May belle uses the object as dual representation knowing that keys are for unlocking, and locking, but also using the keys as a second representation as bells. In the movie, May belle conforms to what is “normal” development; she is precisely developing the way she should be at this age. In Bridge to Teribithia, I believe Jess is depicted as immature, which is not developmentally appropriate for his age. In lecture we discussed concrete operation stage from ages 7-11years, Paget’s developmental theory suggest that children are more able to think logically of real life objects and experiences. For example, Jess does not think logical about real life object and experiences he imagines them. At the age of ten Jess resorts to his imagination to help escape the bullies. Although, I believe he is not able to think logical about real life events I think it is due to his lack of self-identity. Jess does not have a sense of who he is and how he is able to fit into society. Jess is deemed as developmental inappropriate however, I believe eventually as he gets older he will be on the right track having that sense of knowing who he is in

Get Access