Individuality vs. Conformity Theme Analysis

When Leslie Burke moves to the small town of Lark Creek, Virginia, the self-assured tomboy from the city is decidedly out of place. Jess Aarons is drawn to Leslie but finds himself continually embarrassed by Leslie’s shirking of social norms and devil-may-care attitude when it comes to interacting with their peers—Jess himself has spent his whole life hiding the truth of who he is and what he values from those around him, both at home and at school. As the novel progresses, Jess comes to learn many important lessons about the value of nonconformity and the freedom that comes with asserting one’s uniqueness. Ultimately, Katherine Paterson uses Bridge to Terabithia to suggest that a life lived under the anvil of conformity is no life at all.

From the very start of the novel, Paterson uses the characters of Jess and Leslie to demonstrate the ways in which the pressure to conform weighs upon those who are destined to stand out—especially when those individuals are children, for whom the socially-mandated suppression of one’s true personality is especially cruel. At the start of the novel, Jess Aarons lives a life controlled almost completely by other’s expectations for him—a pressure that leads him to suppress the parts of him that are different. Jess wants to stand out, but in a way that’s socially acceptable, so he chooses to pursue success as a runner rather than as an artist (his true calling). He’s had his passion for drawing scrutinized and steamrolled by his father, Mr. Aarons, and his friends at school, including the brash and competitive Gary Fulcher. Jess draws only in private, though he runs in public—a reflection of his insecurity about the nonconformist aspects of his personality and his desire to only present the conventional, socially-acceptable parts of himself to the world.

Jess, however, seeks refuge in those who encourage his nonconformist tendencies. He has a huge crush on his music teacher Miss Edmunds, the only person who has ever encouraged him to continue drawing or praised his artwork. Miss Edmunds is herself a nonconformist—a self-professed “liberated woman” who dresses like a hippie and disregards others’ opinions of her appearance and actions. When Leslie Burke comes to town, Jess is at first embarrassed or even repulsed by her unwillingness to conform to what’s expected of girls her age—but as their friendship deepens, he comes to respect and even emulate her nonconformist tendencies. Jess plays with Leslie more and more at school rather than his male friends, seemingly oblivious to the taunts they get about being boyfriend and girlfriend. He also helps Leslie establish the imaginary realm of Terabithia in a patch of woods near their houses—a place where they can be rulers rather than followers, setters of precedent and creators of the status quo rather than blind sheep following along with the rules and regulations of the “real” world.

Leslie Burke is, from her very first appearance in the novel, an individual who defies being defined or wrangled. When Jess first meets her, he isn’t even sure whether she’s a boy or a girl—that’s how intensely she resists being boxed in or categorized according to other people’s expectations or the social status quo. At school, she doesn’t play with the girls but instead runs races alongside the boys. Even her family is unusual in the town of Lark Creek—her parents, Bill and Judy, are writers and intellectuals who move to the rural community to escape the societal pressures of Washington, D.C. Though everyone in the neighborhood—including Jess’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Aarons—see them as “hippies,” the Burkes happily carve out a life for themselves, uncaring about what others seem to think of them. Leslie’s imagination is another aspect of her personality in which her nonconformity shines through. Leslie creates Terabithia as a way for her and Jess to escape their schoolmates’ expectations of them, and, within the world of Terabithia, she lets her mind run free. Jess and Leslie are the king and queen of Terabithia, and, as such, they’re the ones who make the rules. Terabithia allows Leslie to dictate the world she lives in rather than having her behavior, gender expression, and friendships constantly policed and monitored.

Though the novel never directly explores Leslie’s point of view, the very existence of Terabithia suggests that Leslie, like Jess, struggles with feelings of being an outcast or a misfit—going against her own advice, she seems to long for a way to keep parts of herself secret. Leslie’s nonconformist tendencies broaden Jess’s horizons and open up his world—but Jess also helps Leslie by giving her, in the form of his love and friendship, a safe, nonjudgmental space to be radically herself. By the end of the novel, Jess is no longer shy about his passion for drawing, his love for Leslie, or his reverence for Terabithia—the things about himself he once kept hidden away are now on full display. For instance, he brings his sister May Belle to Terabithia and accepts a gift of paints and paper from the Burkes in front of his father. Jess even allows his classmates and his teacher Mrs. Myers to witness his grief over Leslie—whom he once avoided even being seen with—when she tragically dies in an accident. This shows that Leslie’s effect on Jess has been to show him the truth of who he is—and, through her true friendship and unconditional love, encourage him to accept himself.

Ultimately, Paterson shows how both Jess and Leslie’s lives are improved by accepting the truth of who they are rather than laboring day in and day out to present to the world a constructed front of a person they are not. Even though Leslie tragically dies, she leaves behind an indelible mark on Jess’s life, having been the first person to show him just how beautiful and full life can be when one lives it for oneself rather than for others.