The Brooklyn Bridge has a reputation as a “suicide bridge,” a place where people go to end their lives. For Craig, the bridge initially seems to represent how suicide could offer an end to his depression—a view that he rejects by the end of the novel. When Craig walks on the Brooklyn Bridge one night with Aaron, he feels exhilarated by the possibility that the bridge represents. Craig acts recklessly, climbing up to the part of the bridge with no rail to stop him from going over. This represents how at this point in his life Craig feels suicidal, excited about danger of his situation rather than being afraid, as his friend Aaron (who is not depressed) feels. He feels so powerless to manage his depression and would rather end his life altogether than continue to suffer.
Still, Craig begins to reject the Brooklyn Bridge and what it represents not long after, a shift in perspective marked by his decision to call a suicide hotline rather than jump off the bridge as he initially planned. Later at the hospital with the help of fellow patients like Humble and Noelle, as well as the help of professionals like Dr. Minerva, Craig begins to learn that there are ways for him to actively manage the symptoms of his depression. This realization cultivates in Craig a greater sense of self-empowerment and hope for the future, and he no longer feels that dying by suicide by jumping off the bridge is his only means to end his suffering.
Brooklyn Bridge Quotes in It’s Kind of a Funny Story
I had a sudden urge to walk out over the trussing and lean over the water, to declare myself to the world. Once it came into my head, I couldn’t push it away.
I’m not better, you know. The weight hasn’t left my head. I feel how easily I could fall back into it, lie down and not eat, waste my time and curse wasting my time, look at my homework and freak out and go and chill at Aaron’s, look at Nia and be jealous again, take the subway home and hope that it has an accident, go and get my bike and head to the Brooklyn Bridge. All of that is still there. The only thing is, it’s not an option now. It’s just… a possibility, like it’s a possibility that I could turn to dust in the next instant and be disseminated throughout the universe as an omniscient consciousness. It’s not a very likely possibility.
Brooklyn Bridge Symbol Timeline in It’s Kind of a Funny Story
