The Other Side of the Bridge

When it comes to responsibility, there isn't always just one person who is responsible for the action that was made. It is usually multiple people. In the book The Other Side of the Bridge, Mary Lawson, Jake was the one who ran over Carter, but many other people are to blame as well. Arthur, Laura and Jake are all to blame for Carter's death because they assumed things before finding out the truth, and don't think about their actions.

Apart from other people being blamed for Carter's death, Jake is mostly to blame. When Jake and Arthur were younger, Jake loves to get under Arthur's skin about everything, and so he decides to steal Laura away from Arthur. "Right then, as he felt the slow flush spreading over his face, as he saw Jake notice it, saw the light dawn, saw him smile, Arthur knew what was going to happen. He saw the whole thing, right then."(263) If Jake hadn't wanted to get on Arthur's nerves, he wouldn't have wanted Laura in the first place. When Jake got Laura pregnant, he wasn't responsible at all and decided to run from his mistake instead of trying to fix it. "Sorry to go without saying goodbye, Jake."(317) If Jake didn't get Laura pregnant and then run away, the outcome would have been very different. When Jake came back to the far, and started pushing himself on Laura, things started to get out of hand. "Laura had her back up to the wall and Jake was standing directly in front of her, very close."(339) If Jake had stayed away and not come back to the farm, then the affair wouldn't have happened. Because Jake loved to bother his brother, got Laura to fall in love with him, got her pregnant with Carter and then ran away from the problem when they were kids, Jake was mostly at fault for Carter's death.

Although Jake is to blame for Carter's death, Arthur is also at fault. Arthur is so caught up in his work and avoiding Jake, the he doesn't notice the affair going on right before his eyes. "The only thing he wasn't keen on was the way Jake hung around Laura. That was starting to make him uneasy. He wondered what Arthur thought of it. But Arthur didn't seem to notice."(267) If Arthur hadn't been so blind and actually notice that something was going on with his wife, he could've easily prevented the affair. Arthur started attacking and yelling at Jake before asking anyone what the real story was. "Arthur reached out and took holy of the front of Jake's shirt with both hands and lifted into the air, right up into the air, and then slammed him against the car, smashed him so hard that the car rocked with it, "Go