-------------------------------------------------
Taylor Werschey
-------------------------------------------------
Mr. Elliott
-------------------------------------------------
Honors Eng 1
-------------------------------------------------
September 19, 2012
-------------------------------------------------
Invisibility
-------------------------------------------------
Feelings of withdrawal or going unnoticed: one might call this invisibility. When interpreted, it can come as a literal or figurative phrase. Literally, “invisible” means the object is transparent and unseen by the human eye, whereas figuratively, people can feel emotionally invisible to others; however, people can still physically see them. The feeling of no acceptance can make a person feel lonely, ignored and depressed; in other words, no one wants to feel invisible. Everyone craves the feeling of being wanted and accepted, and no one wants to feel alone and unwanted. For example, in the story Things Not Seen, the author Andrew Clements uses the two main characters, Alicia and Bobby, with very common yet very opposite situations, to demonstrate invisibility and reveal the message in the novel.
-------------------------------------------------
Firstly, Bobby and Alicia both have very similar lives and situations. When Bobby and Alicia first met Bobby ran into her seeing a “ thin white cane” realizing her disability and finding out their similarities (Clements 28). Blindness impaired Alicia, to the point where she could not attend a normal high school and felt invisible, figuratively speaking. However, Bobby literally appeared invisible one day “[he wasn’t] there”: his body remaining unseen to the human eye (Clements 1). They also relate in the way that they only have each other and their parents due to their situations. Alicia doesn’t make very many friends due to her blindness and rejection, while Bobby must keep his invisibility a secret. Also, Alicia and Bobby do not maintain good relationships with their parents as well. Alicia feels like her mom invades her privacy too much and feels that she ruined her mom’s life when she became blind. Bobby feels like his parents don’t care enough and that they think so little of Bobby because unlike his parents, Bobby is not a genius. Although Bobby and Alicia have many similarities, one major event makes a difference in both their lives.
-------------------------------------------------
When Bobby finally finds the solution of why he turned invisible, he then “[plugs the blanket] in and [gets] into bed”, returning back to his normal life (Clements 235). However, Alicia still remains blind and does not get to see and live on normally like Bobby. This makes Alicia realize that she still has to live blindly and still feel invisible, while Bobby can now return back to his normal life. Through this, Alicia understood that since Bobby was no longer invisible, they no longer have much in common anymore. Since Bobby can live how he used to again, Alicia feels she shouldn't be apart of his life anymore because now they do not share a disability: only she still has one. When Bobby goes to “lean down toward her face, she pulls back and turns away. Tears [running down her face]”, (Clements 245). From this event Andrew Clements real meaning becomes revealed.
-------------------------------------------------
Andrew Clement took two complete opposite, yet very similar characters and created a story with meaning behind it. He took an invisible character whose parents focused too much on their jobs, and a blind yet emotionally invisible girl with her parents who cared too much about her. Yet they similarly felt invisible because they both experienced rejection from society and their parents. They had common lives, but after Bobby’s life went back to normal, Alicia pushed him away
