Themes In Todd Strassor's Short Story On The Bridge

Beep beep beep sounds countless hospital machines chirping like birds in the morning sun. He opens his eyes to wires coming from his body like a robot. Brought to tears by pai in his abdomen finds out he has 3 broken ribs. Brought to tears by slapping a fly off his face finds out he has a broken cheekbone. Brought to tears wiping his runny nose found out he broke it. His time to go home has come he is leaving the hospital with countless injuries and a hefty receipt from his stay lying motionless on a hospital bed. Opening the door to the outside world that he had been away from for a while, he was blinded by the sunlight as symptoms of his concussion re-occur. Arrived at his car and turns on the news radio station to catch up on the important …show more content…
at the beginning of the story seths number one priority was to fit in, seth is on a bridge with Adam and he is doing whatever Adam does to try and be cool. Adan leaned over the ledge on a bridge and made a semi truck honk so adam tried it for himself when the next truck passed. Unfortunetly seth is embarases wen he does not succeed in making the truck honk and looks to adam for help. “ how come it didn't work? Seth asked. You gotta do it a certain was. Adam told him. Shaw me, said seth. Cant man, exclaimed adam. (Strasser) social acceptance is very important to seth. He aspires to fit in and be one with the cool older kids and he will do whatever they do to be like them. This value is also shown when does a cool smoke trick that seth wants to try but won't risk doing it wrong then looking not cool in front of Adam. “Adam took another drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke out of hi nose. Seth wanted to try that, but he was afraid he would cough or do something equally uncool.” (Strasser) the way seth double thinks and holds back certain actions shows how much he strives to fit in with the cool kids. Seth values social acceptance so much That he will act like a completely different person around someone he is trying to impress and he won't act like his true self. For example if i don't play sports, me talking like i …show more content…
Now that seth values self confidence he realizes he doesn't need to put a fake personality on around certain people. “Seth nodded again. He didn't even turn to watch adam go.” (strasser). Seth has realized that adam is not a good person and does not continue to want to be with him. After the fight seth sees that the people who look tough on the outside are sometimes weak on the inside, even tho he is not easily observed as tough he is more strong on in the inside than adam will ever be and that is all the matters. “You will meet many opponents in your time that will come face to face with your flaws, trust the chaos ~ pain & confusion is the pathway to break open and become free.” ― Nikki Rowe. this quote is great for this story because it relates to seth, through his chaos, pain, and confusion, he stayed strong and persevered through it all and overcame opposition. He became free within himself and built the confidence he didn't have before,
On the bridge is a story about crucial life lessons and knowing who your real friends are ,seth values social acceptance more than anything else before he was beaten up by bullies. However when faced and stood up against opposition his value changes, When he refuses to give in to the bully's demands and walks away from adam. after