Bridge to Terabithia Group

Question:


maganda123

Chapter 10 of "Bridge to Terabithia" is titled "The Perfect Day." Can you please explain why it was a perfect day for jess?

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Posted by maganda123 on Sunday September 28, 2008 at 7:27 PM and tagged with bridge to terabithia, chapter 10, characters, jess.

Answers:

  1. mandyhouk
    mandyhouk Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Chapter 10 is titled "The Perfect Day" for several reasons.  The most literal reason is that Jesse spends the entire day at the art museum with the teacher he has a crush on, Miss Edmunds.

    It is also, though he does not know it yet, the day that his best friend, Leslie, drowns in her attempt to cross to the river to their imaginary land, Terabithia.  The accident is made more tragic by Jesse's guilty conscience: he could have invited Leslie to join them in their trip to the museum, but chose instead to keep Miss Edmunds to himself.

    On one hand, the day truly is "perfect" because he spent it in blissful ignorance of the loss he would face when he returned home, marking the end of his innocent childhood.  But this also makes the chapter's title ironic, since this "perfect day" ultimately becomes the worst day of his life.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/bridge-terabithia-qn/themes-characters

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    Posted by mandyhouk on Wednesday October 8, 2008 at 9:57 AM