Bridge to Terabithia

The methods of entry into Terabithia—the rope used to swing over the gulley and the bridge that Jess builds—are important, contrasting symbols of participation in the magic of Terabithia. While the rope is a serendipitous transportation into a place where Leslie and Jess can forget about their troubles and enjoy childhood, the bridge is an intentional choice to keep that joy and share it with others.

Leslie and Jess find the rope on the crab apple tree by accident. As they explore around the gully behind their homes, they find where “someone long forgotten had hung a rope” (49). They take turns swinging across the rope and enjoy looking up at the sky. Deciding that they need a place where the two of them can escape, Leslie initiates building the pretend world of Terabithia. Using the rope to cross into their imaginative world becomes an unspoken ritual: While Jess knows it would be easier just to walk across the gully, he feels that “one must enter Terabithia only by the prescribed entrance” (76). This ceremonial entrance is part of an imaginative threshold: They cross over from the real world—where they are outsiders and have little control over their lives as children—to a place where they are rulers.