Relationships in The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson

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The Other Side of The Bride Essay. The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson is a book that depicts two different people, that mainly focuses on jealousy, rivalry and the power of obsession over half a century. There are many characters in the novel and they build relationships with one another that eventually become intertwined. The relationships that are built end up having an effect on the character, and contributes something different to his understanding of himself and the decisions he makes. Ian in the novel is an example of that, where the relationships he builds with the others, helps him find who he is as a person and affects the decisions he makes. Specifically through the relationships with Pete, his father, and Jake, he gains something different from each character which proves to be vital to who he is. Without these characters, Ian would be very different, as each character contributed something to Ian’s ultimate understanding of himself. The relationships that Ian builds, shapes his understanding of himself and affects the decisions he makes and one of the most important relationships that Ian builds that helps him realize what he loves, is his best friend, Pete. Pete has been Ian’s best friend since their father’s took them fishing together, the event of fishing constantly occurs throughout the novel. Ian realizes that he loves fishing through Pete and is one of his most beloved things to do in Struan, even before he decided what he wanted to do with his life. “In fact, it made no difference to Ian where or why or how they fished. He was in love with fishing, never mind that all he ever caught was snags and sunfish...You could think, during those long stretches-or better still, you could not think. Though l... ... middle of paper ... ... relationship with the other people in the town of Struan. His relationships helps him understand about himself, and affects the decisions he makes for the future. People such as Pete, his father, and Jake all play a role in understanding different things about himself. With Pete, Ian understands the beauty that the town of Struan has to offer and what he loves about it and effecting his decision to live in Struan, his father helps him understand his profession as he grows older as he does become what his father hopes him to be, while with Jake he understands the attatchement he was with Struan, from the town to the importance of the job of being the town’s doctor. Therefore if Ian did not have relationships with these people, Ian would be a completely different person to what he is now in the book because all of them, contributes something very important to Ian..

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