Things Not Seen

At age 13, Alicia Van Dorn—pretty, popular, and smart—suddenly became blind. At 15, she takes correspondence classes but feels bitter because people now avoid her. She feels invisible until she meets Bobby, a boy who actually is invisible, and finds in him a kindred spirit who appreciates her viewpoint and her sassy take on life and people. Alicia introduces Bobby to the theme of Noticing What Goes Unseen. Bobby realizes that Alicia must navigate the world in a completely different way, relying on different senses and interpreting others’ words and actions without the use of sight. This opens him up to perceiving things in new ways.

Alongside Bobby, Alicia is one of the story’s two main protagonists; her journey with blindness evolves as she helps him deal with invisibility, and together, they explore the theme of How to Be Seen While Invisible. Like Bobby, Alicia is somewhat defensive and easily provoked to anger; much as he does, she learns from their relationship to avoid over-interpreting other people’s comments. Alicia becomes very attached to Bobby, fears he’ll lose interest in her if his perilous situation improves, and, at story’s end, resolves her conflict by trying to push him away. Alicia is a main character in the three-part Things book series.

Professor Emily Phillips, Bobby’s mother, is a major supporting character. Bobby believes she views him as something of a disappointment, and this causes a lot of tension between them. When Bobby becomes invisible and begins to do things on his own, without consulting her, the tension pitches upward.

Bobby describes the estrangement:

Meet Professor Mom, also known as the Director. Her motto is, when in doubt, give an order. She’s used to the timid little freshmen in her literature classes at the University of Chicago. She expects ‘young people’ to jump when she barks at them (3).

Emily and her husband, David, are involved in a serious car crash, and they spend several days in the hospital. Emily realizes she’s taken Bobby for granted and resolves to be a better mother. She contributes to the group effort by protecting Bobby from the school district and the government; Emily argues strenuously with truancy inspector Ms. Pagett when Bobby fails to appear at school, which gives the family time to work out a solution to the invisibility problem.

Bobby’s dad is a supporting character. A physicist at the University of Chicago’s FermiLab—as Bobby puts it, “one of those places where they smash atoms and then take pictures of the bits” (4)—David tends to think in one fashion: scientifically. Bobby calls him “Joe Physics,” and it’s not a compliment. After the traffic accident, David realizes, like his wife, that they’ve neglected Bobby. He decides to be less of a lecturer and more of a father to Bobby, though their new dynamic has a learning curve.

David and Leo are instrumental in solving the puzzle of Bobby’s invisibility, and at first, David gets caught up in the scientific mystery. But later, he makes a point of complimenting Bobby’s initiative in developing clues that lead to a solution to the invisibility problem. Bobby begins to see his father’s science-oriented ways less as irritants and more as assets. Their mutual admiration and love increase greatly.

Alicia’s father, astronomy professor Leo Van Dorn, works at the University of Chicago. He sports wild “Einstein hair” and, like David Phillips, loves to reason out scientific puzzles. Though he means well, Alicia finds him overbearing; she and Bobby commiserate about their parents several times. Leo and David work together to make headway on the riddle of Bobby’s invisibility. The solution is vital to both families, but it’s also the kind of scientific challenge they love. Their methodical approach to the problem proves helpful. Leo is a minor supporting character whose main function is to help Bobby’s family deal with the boy’s invisibility.