Essay “a View from a Bridge”Essay Preview: Essay “a View from a Bridge”2 rating(s)Report this essayIn the essay “A View from a Bridge,” the author, Cherokee Paul McDonald attempts to describe the world through words to a boy with no sight. McDonald uses very detailed descriptions of this account and in turn realizes that beauty is too often overlooked in everyday life.
In McDonalds essay, he uses his experience fishing with a blind boy. While he uses first person, he also uses dialogue to explain whats going on. This allows the reader to get a feel for whats going on. Through the important interaction of the author with the blind boy, you are able to see the lesson that is trying to be taught. The language the author selects for himself and the little boy help the audience to see into their characters. McDonald uses short sentences, symbolizing his short temper and lack of patience with the boy. McDonald portrays himself as an angry and ill character, at the beginning of the story by having him shout phrases at the boy and cussing at the little boy when the boy asks for help.
The little boy refers to McDonald as “Mister” and uses the word “hey” frequently to show the reader the youth of the boy and his innocence. The innocence of the little boy is shown when he makes comments such as ,”Would you help me please?” The author makes the little boy seem helpless and in need of guidance by having him fidget around to find his shrimp that he accidentally dropped on the ground. The author almost makes the reader feel sorry for the little boy, and this is brought out even more when the author will not stop to help the little boy. The reader feels angry when the author criticizes the way the blind boy is dressed, and the little boys glasses.
The little boy is shown getting his shrimp at McDonald’s that he doesn’t know about, and he gets angry when the author criticizes his fashion choices.
The readers notice that the character in the chapter’s last scene at the end of the story is named Mr. Johnson, and see these words being applied to the character in this scene:
“In my opinion all the blind boys I’ve ever seen are being trained by the blind children (not least, Mr. Johnson), when they are in the world of things like shoes. I’ve seen it done for years, and it wasn’t until I discovered this amazing little man that I was convinced to put it down. He’s in a bad way…
“He’s like Mr. Stankiewicz. He doesn’t have a good sense of touch. On occasion, his hands might even be as dirty as a kid’s, so if he needs help, he’s going to need it. He has no hands, and his fingers are not sharp enough to touch a real, raw egg, so he’s really not good at picking out things. The only thing missing from my experience at all is his great intellect, which makes me doubt his ability to think for himself. While I was still trying to work it out with my blind friend, I got to see the difference between some of his inventions and others, and I learned that he was a genius even when he had the most limited powers.
“The guy is very smart. A good friend of mine who has trained all his blind boys for his own good had to pick his kids because they had the best intellect. He was extremely smart, even though he still has his problems. He had a terrible temper and bad habits. He could be tough and angry, but also strong.
“Many books have this idea that we learn that people become so strong, we know for ourselves that they were in control of their minds. We learn of those strong people—what makes people strong then becomes what makes us strong. When we see that the best kind of person in the world isn’t such a weak person, then we see that the kind of person that is weak is actually capable of strong thoughts. We see that what distinguishes a good idea from the bad one is how strong is the thought’s power, how close it is, or the strength it has. When we see what a child is capable of doing, that becomes an important consideration. That’s what separates a good idea from bad, bad because
