Abstract:
This paper explores various narrative strategies Katherine Paterson uses to 'image
childhood' in Bridge to Terabithia, Jacob Have I Loved and Preacher's Boy. It will
analyse how aspects such as focalisation, metaphor, and narrative structure itself are
crucial to presenting a credible image of childhood. Katherine Paterson's strength lies
in her portrayal of memorable childhood characters: ' ... it seems to me,' she writes,
'that what we remember most about strong realistic fiction is character .. .' (2001b,
p.37). Paterson's own ideology mainly works itself out through her characters and
what they stand for. She does not avoid difficult circumstances or emotions, tackling
problems of abjection, dispossession, loneliness, and jealousy 'head on', but in a way
that is certainly palatable for the younger reader: both adults and children can be
equally moved, affected, and challenged by the power of her stories. Paterson retains
a childhood intensity and compelling urgency of storying, and childhood is alive for
her in memory and present existence because it is essential to her natural procedures
for articulating the self or subject in time.
