45 pages • 1-hour read
Too Bright to See
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Grieving Process
Part of Bug’s journey is about accepting his uncle’s death and healing from his grief. Bug’s closeness with his uncle is reflected when Bug describes the moment of Roderick’s death: “The moment he dies, I know” (9). Bug has grown up with his mother and uncle as his entire family; Roderick’s death is a major blow, even though it is not unexpected. Roderick has been sick for a long time.
Initially, Bug deals with his feelings of grief by pushing them away. He comforts his mother as she grieves, and spends Roderick’s memorial doing dishes and laundry to avoid having to talk about his feelings. The idea of telling other people about Roderick’s death is horrible: Bug is sad that he cannot attend camp, but he also realizes that telling everyone that his uncle just died would be very unpleasant. Sabrina knows that Bug is independent and mature. This sometimes means that she lets him manage his emotions on his own, while also being prepared to support him if needed.
Bug does not really feel that the stages of grief apply to his process, but he does want to move toward acceptance. His interactions with Roderick’s ghost are part of how Bug ultimately accepts his death. He believes that Roderick’s ghost has some unfinished business, after which he will be able to move on and be at peace. Although Bug is sad, he is also afraid of being haunted. He would prefer for his uncle to be at peace than to be stuck trying to tell him something, much as he wants to know what that something is.
Bug’s dreams, though surreal, reflect his inner reality. Most of his dreams have to do with his experience of gender and his anxieties about appearing as a girl, such as when mannequins turn into Moira’s friends, as well as his anxieties about middle school. His last dream, when Roderick’s presence fades away, indicates that Bug’s grieving process has reached the acceptance stage. Bug’s mother also has a moment of acceptance when she finds the locket on her pillow. Although both of them will always miss Roderick, they are able to process his death in a healthy way and move on.
Embracing Transgender Identity
Bug’s primary journey is about understanding his identity as a transgender boy. At 11, Bug does not truly understand who he is. He feels as though everyone else has things figured out, particularly Moira. To deal with his uncertain identity, Bug often narrates his actions as though he were a character in a book. He feels as though “making believe that [he’s] in a story keeps [his] mind off of what [he] really [is], which isn’t much” (17). By introducing a level of abstraction, Bug is able to push away some of the discomfort he feels around the subject of gender.
Initially, Bug is insistent that he is a girl. He is aware of what it means to be transgender, but he has some misconceptions that make it hard for him to connect being trans to his own experiences. Even when he reads about trans people’s descriptions of feeling uncomfortable, he assumes that discomfort “must be more of a human thing” and not strictly related to being transgender (116). Too Bright to See challenges the narrative that all trans people fully understand their gender from early childhood. Bug’s experiences are common: Gender is complicated, and sorting out one’s identity can be a major challenge.
Bug is able to understand his identity with the help of his uncle. Roderick suspected that Bug was trans while he was alive; after death, his ghost tries to help Bug feel more comfortable being who he really is. The novel is careful to distinguish between Roderick’s identity as a gay man and a drag queen, and Bug’s identity as a trans boy. Although Bug worries that Roderick was actually trans but unable to say so, he and Sabrina ultimately do not think that is likely. Roderick had a clear understanding of gender and its many expressions, as well as of his own gender identity.
When Bug is able to understand that he is really a boy, a lot of things click into place for him. He used to hate what he looked like with makeup on, but once people think of him as a boy, he thinks he might feel more comfortable experimenting with different gender presentations. For Bug, being perceived as a girl is a restrictive and uncomfortable experience. Being perceived as a boy is freeing, allowing him more flexibility in how he expresses himself.
Friendship and Coming of Age
Bug is 11 when the book begins and 12 when it ends. He is going through a time of great personal change and trying to understand who he is and what his life will look like. Moira is also coming of age, but her process looks quite different from Bug’s. At the same time, both children are trying to figure out their gender presentations. Bug is realizing that being a girl is not working for him, as much as he tries. Moira is working hard to learn how to do makeup; she enjoys it and thinks it is important to fit in once she gets to middle school.
For a while, it seems as though Bug and Moira are destined to grow apart. Their interests and personalities no longer overlap, and Bug thinks that Moira is going to abandon him if he cannot fit in with the girls at middle school. Moira, on the other hand, does not want her friendship with Bug to disintegrate. She tries to help him fit in the best way she knows how, by giving him a makeover, but is quick to change her strategy once she realizes that he is transgender. She realizes that now that Bug is comfortable with himself, he will have an easier time making friends at school.
Once Bug’s coming-of-age journey is complete within the narrative, his friendship with Moira comes into clearer focus. Both friends are able to understand each other as complex individuals instead of relying on incomplete guesses and assumptions. Bug realizes that being a girl is not always effortless for Moira; she has spent a long time learning how to do makeup. The practice of performing a gender in a socially acceptable way is not necessarily straightforward or easy for anyone, whether they are transgender or not.
Bug makes assumptions about both Moira and the group of girls that she invites to his party. He feels embarrassed for Moira when he learns that she invited the older girls, assuming that is not the right way to make friends. When the other girls turn out to be nice and accepting, he realizes that making friends requires being open and genuine, not trying to be something or someone inauthentic. After spending a lot of his life pushing his feelings away and trying to force himself to be someone he is not, Bug realizes that it is okay to behave in ways that make him feel comfortable, even if that makes him different from his friends.
Unlock every key theme and why it matters
Get in-depth breakdowns of the book’s main ideas and how they connect and evolve.
- Explore how themes develop throughout the text
- Connect themes to characters, events, and symbols
- Support essays and discussions with thematic evidence