THINGS NOT SEEN

DISCUSSION POINTS

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There are different forms of being “invisible”.

 

• Bobby is now literally transparent.

 

• Alicia has felt ignored by society ever since she became blind (by rolling off of bed and bumping her head).

 

“That’s exactly how I felt that first morning, that whole first year when I was suddenly the little blind girl. It was like I became invisible. I couldn’t see myself, I couldn’t see me going to dances or college or grad school, couldn’t see myself becoming an archeologist. I was never going to get to see the pyramids or the Valley of the Kings. And I couldn’t even see getting married or having kids, or anything I used to wish about. Everything just disappeared. 

 

I could tell other people were looking at my funny, I could feel it, and I could hear it in their voices. It felt like they wished I would just go away. I made them uncomfortable. And I couldn’t read the books I loved, I couldn’t watch movies, couldn’t see sunsets or flowers. It was all invisible, just like me.

 

…And it was like my parents couldn’t see me either. They just saw this thing that was suddenly helpless. They’re better now, but still, I’m not their wonderful daughter they were so proud of before. Now I’m a big job, a job they can’t get rid of even if they wanted to” (106).

 

• Before Bobby became transparent, he used to feel ignored by the popular people at his school (and wonders if Alicia, who used to be popular, also would have dismissed him as an average dork if she had never become blind).

 

“‘I’m talking about experience. You can tell if someone thinks you’re nothing. Like, just a few weeks ago, I’m walking toward this beautiful girl named Jessica in the hall, and I smile and look at her, and her face doesn’t change, her eyes don’t connect with me, nothing. It’s like she looks right through me, like I’m not even there.’

 

Alicia’s eyebrows shoot up. ‘Hmm… she looked right through you, eh? Like you weren’t even there? Interesting way to describe your old life, don’t you think?’” (160-161).

 

• Bobby has always felt unseen by his parents (since they always make decisions for him without asking him for his ideas or opinions).

 

“It’s my life! And if I want to talk to someone and trust someone, then I’m going to, no matter what you think. It’s my decision, not yours!” (101).

 

“WHO had the idea that the answer wasn’t off in theoryville, that the place to begin was at the scene of the crime? What’s that? That was MY idea? Well, what do you know! And guess what? If you’d talk and LISTEN, maybe I have other ideas too. Or does that sound like science fiction to such big geniuses?” (156).

 

“All I hear is what I’ve been hearing for fifteen years: Everyone else has decided what’s best for me. They’re all sure. They’ve made up their minds. And now they’re telling me. They’re telling me how they’ve decided my life will be. …I want to yell, It’s my life! You can’t leave me out of the decisions about my own life!” (221).

 

• Sheila (who had become invisible like Bobby three years earlier) used to feel like she was losing pieces of herself with each bad decision she made.

 

“I started disappearing a long time before this happened to me. If it hadn’t been this, I would have disappeared some other way. Booze or drugs maybe, maybe three more bad boyfriends -- that would have done it. I was already disappearing, a little bit at a time. It was better happening all at once. And now I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to start worrying about my weight and my hair and all that junk again. I like who I am, and I’ve got a life that works fine” (238-239).

 

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What are some consequences of literal invisibility?

 

“I can just hear some guys at my school talking about this. They’d go, ‘Whoa! You’re invisible? And you’re bummed about it? Like what’s your problem? Go with the flow, dude. Check out the girls’ locker room. Check out the jewelry store. Go to the bank and learn some codes, man. Go work for the CIA, you know, like James Bond, only better. Invisible. That’s so cool!’

 

Because if that’s what some kid is thinking, that’s because it’s not happening to him. He’s not facing it all day and all night, what it really means. This isn’t a movie where you watch it for two hours and then it ends, and then you climb into a car and you talk about how the movie was while you go to get pizza with some friends.

 

…What if I never change back to the way I was? What then? Do I have to keep it a secret forever, like a spy who can never tell his wife and kids who he really is? Hah! What wife and kids?

 

Right now it feels like I’m never going to get to be on my own. Like, never even get my driver’s license, or go away to college. Never even buy a car or get a job or have my own apartment. Never!” (67).

 

“It’s like my life is supposed to be playing, but the VCR is on pause and the screen is blank and maybe the whole rest of the tape is erased” (68).

 

“This kind of science can hurt people. Do we want invisible soldiers and police and spies all over the place? Or invisible criminals? Can you imagine the level of security we’d all have to live with if this technology becomes widely known? And even more important, do we want to sacrifice any chance for you to eventually have a normal life again?” (220).

 

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What are some consequences of literal blindness?

 

• Alicia has a hard time navigating places unassisted without bumping into anything.

 

• Alicia has a hard time trusting new people she meets (since who knows if they’re covered in tattoos and have piercings and are up to no good?). 

 

• Alicia can’t enjoy new movies (since it’s hard to paint a complete picture in her mind through listening alone). So she mainly likes to rewatch movies that she saw before her accident or listen to audiobooks.

 

• Alicia won’t ever know what actors (like Brad Pitt) will look like as they get older.

 

• Alicia has a hard time texting, so she needs a text-to-audio gadget (that reads her messages aloud to her).

 

• Alicia’s sleeping schedule gets thrown off (since it always seems like nighttime to her).

 

• Alicia’s job opportunities seem limited (even though there is a Disabilities Act).

 

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If you end up in an uncertain or helpless situation, there could be others in the same boat as you. 

 

• When Alicia went blind, the first thing doctors did was compare her case to other cases (to make sure she was getting the right treatment). Unfortunately, this data collection confirmed that her condition was not fixable.

 

• When Bobby found out that the electric blanket was the cause of his invisibility, he tracked down other people who had complained about the electric blanket (to get a sense of how often such an event could occur and if anyone figured out how to reverse the effects yet).

 

“I’m lying on my bed early this morning reading an article in Time magazine about people who have had UFO abduction experiences. And I read that until the media got going on this, all these people -- hundreds of them -- they all kept quiet about it because they thought it only happened to them. And I look at myself, at all this, and I think, What makes you so sure this is only happening to you? Maybe going invisible has happened to other people too. Maybe lots of people! And everybody is keeping a secret and thinks he’s the only one in the world with this problem” (138).

 

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If you don’t know of anyone with the same problems as you (or if you don’t have any way to fix your situation), family and friends can still support you.

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• Bobby’s parents look out for Bobby by covering his tracks from the police and even preparing to go to jail to keep his secret. They know that the police are only doing their job of tracking down a missing child and aren't "bad guys", however.

 

“When there’s a family crisis or something bad happens, usually you get to call for outside help. When Bobby gets caught shoplifting, you call your lawyer. When Mom drops her ring down the drain, you call a plumber. Dad spills the charcoal grill onto the deck, you call the fire department. But if your kid dissolves in the shower one morning? Who do you call? No one” (6).

 

• When Bobby considers faking his death (so that his parents can get off the hook for explaining his disappearance), Alicia reveals how even though many of her friends ditched her after she became blind, her loyal friend Nancy regularly visited her, kept her updated on school drama, and patiently listened to Alicia’s feelings.

 

“If it hadn’t been for Nancy, I’d have probably tried to kill myself or done something else really stupid, stuff like you’re talking about. So I’m going to be your Nancy. I’m not giving up on you, no matter how long it takes for things to get better, or even if things never do get better. And even if you do give up on yourself, I’m not giving up on you” (142-143).​

 

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Everybody experiences fear, but which fears are justifiable?

 

• Soon after Bobby turns invisible, his parents get into a car accident. Not only is Bobby worried about losing them, but he’s also worried about having to spend a few days alone at home (since nighttime can be creepy). What if a burglar tries to break in? Or what if a ghost visits him?

 

“I’m getting a thought. It’s a real thought, a memory. About fear. And I’m thinking it. And the thought is simple. It’s simple: nothing to fear but fear itself. From a history class. Just words. Until now. 

 

And then it’s like I’m five feet away. And I’m looking at me, at this guy sitting on a bed. And I can see he’s not under attack. There is no danger. And I can see that the fear is the thing. It’s just the fear. 

 

Another memory, another thought. I’m walking out of the library about a year ago behind two college girls. And one of them says, ‘I am so upset, I am just so upset! And the thing that upsets me the most is that I’m so upset!’ That’s what she says, and I listen to this and I think, How stupid is that! If you don’t want to be so upset, just stop being upset! 

 

And now it’s the fear. It’s the same. Like being upset because you’re upset. It keeps feeding itself. And then it gets you to feed it. And you just have to stop it” (58-59).

 

• Bobby’s parents’ fear of getting arrested due to the suspicious cover-up of Bobby’s disappearance is understandable.

 

“Fear shoots across their faces, both of them. And it’s not like when I was at home, feeling afraid of the dark. This is a real threat. The Cook County Jail is a bad place, and I see the fear settle into Dad’s eyes, watch it pull at the corners of Mom’s mouth” (133).

 

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How do we respond to our situations? 

 

• Do we go on with our lives the best we can, but easily get an angry and sarcastic tone (like Alica)?

 

• Do we refuse to trust anyone, living a life of complete isolation (like Sheila)? She never told her parents about her invisibility (and thus has very limited contact with them), she dresses up as a Muslim woman whenever she needs to go out, she works as a stay-at-home website designer, and she gave up on the idea of romantic relationships. After Bobby tells her that he figured out a way to turn visible again, she decides that she wants to stay the way she is.

 

“[Sheila’s] like the guy who spends sixteen years in jail, and then gets out, and hates having to make all the decisions of regular life. So he steals a car or something to get himself sent back inside. Back where it’s warm and dry, where you already know about all the dangers, where you already know about all the dangers, where you don’t have to make any decisions” (239-240).

 

• Do we try our best to take action (like Bobby)? Instead of sitting around and feeling sorry for himself, he takes risks to track down what caused his invisibility, and he takes even more risks to reverse it (by sleeping under the electric blanket on another night with high solar winds, since two negatives make a positive).

 

• Do you go crazy (like the protagonist in H.G. Wells’s The Invisible Man)? The main character selfishly thirsted for power, so he made himself drink chemicals. Once he realized that being invisible is terrible, he turned into a crazy homicidal maniac until someone finally killed him. This sounds depressing to Bobby, but Alicia explains that her reaction was the opposite (since it gave her encouragement when she realized that Bobby is not like that character). 

 

“When I was listening to this book, all I could think of was that you are nothing like this guy. You aren’t some crazy person trying to prove some big point, or become a famous scientist or something. You were nice before this happened, and you’re still a good person. It’s not like you wanted any of this. It’s just an accident. You’re innocent, and this other guy’s guilty. Plus, he doesn’t trust anybody. And that’s not like you. This guy is all on his own because he’s so selfish. You’re not alone like he was. Like, your mom and dad? They would go to jail just to keep you safe. You have people who care about you and want to protect you” (137).

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