The Notebook Essay, Research Paper
The Notebook “I am nothing special; of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts, and I’ve led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I’ve loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.” (P. 192) Nicholas Sparks novel, The Notebook, uses descriptive language, universal themes, and well developed characters to examine one mans love and devotion for a woman. Throughout the novel, Sparks uses descriptive language such as similes to heighten passages. He uses similes most often when Noah is thinking about Allie. “He could feel her skin, soft and tender as newborn baby’s. He could smell her, soft like the rain, warm.” (P. 116) In this quote Noah and Allie are walking with each other. The use of similes in Noah’s description of Allie helps the reader to get a clear picture of just what Noah is experiencing. Sparks also used alliteration through out his novel. “It’s just so real- the shapes, the shadows, the substance.” (P. 63) This quote is taken from the beginning of the book in which Noah is talking to Allie about the painting that she did for him many years ago before her family moved away. Another use of alliteration is on page 100. The following quote is describing Noah. “A strange combination, he was complicated, almost contradictory in so many ways.” By using alliteration Sparks was able to add emphasis to a passage that may have otherwise been overlooked. The repetition of the consonants catches the readers eye and makes the sentence more intense. The Notebook is a novel that almost anyone could relate to. Sparks chooses to base his novels on themes that are universal. In the novel, The Notebook, Sparks chooses to have one theme be cherishing time that you have to spend with loved ones. This was shown in a very interesting way. The novel was written as a flashback. Noah and Allie were living in a nursing home when the novel was written. Noah went to Allie’s room everyday to read to her from the notebook that he had kept over their life together. “So once again, just as I do everyday, I begin to read the notebook aloud, hoping that she can hear it, in the hope that the miracle that had come to dominate my life will once again prevail. And maybe, just maybe, it will.” (P. 5) The theme of cherishing the time that you have to spend with loved ones really makes the reader think as the read about the life that Noah and Allie led with one another. When you see how happy they were for so long and then you see what happened to them when Allie developed Alzheimer and couldn’t even remember who he was it makes you think about the precious time you have and how you should never take it for granted. “Please don’t be angry with me on the days that I don’t remember you, and we both know that they will come. Know that I love you, that I always have and that I always will, and no matter what happens, know that I have led the greatest life possible. My life with you.” (P. 207) This quote was taken from a letter that Allie wrote to Noah during the time that she was first starting to get sick. I think that this theme is something that everyone can relate to in some form.
The biggest theme of the book was that of love lost, found, and rebuilt. “Without another word they came together, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and he put his arms around her, drawing her close. They held each other tightly, making it real, both of them letting the fourteen years of separation dissolve in the deepening twilight.” (P. 38) This quote was from the beginning of the book were Allie and Noah are finally reunited. It was refreshing to see that even after all the time that had passed and despite the separate lives that they had lived, they were still able to see one another and feel as if no time had passed at all. At this point in the novel, Allie was engaged to another man. The time that she spent with Noah made her realize that she had to listen to what her heart told her. It was her heart that led her back to see him. In the end Allie ends up marrying Noah and having children with him. This gives the reader the hope that love doesn’t die. It merely gets put on hold for a while and if it was meant to be then it will never die. It will just pick up where it left off Just as Sparks did in his other novel, Message in a Bottle, he used well developed characters to make the reader feel as if they really knew Noah and Allie. Through out the novel Sparks let the readers into the hearts and minds of Allie and Noah. He did this in order to allow the reader to really get into the book. In the following quote Sparks gave the reader a brief description of where each character was at when they were reunited for the first time in fourteen years. “Allison Nelson, twenty-nine years old and engages, a socialite, searching for answers she needed to know, and Noah Calhoun, the dreamer, thirty-one, visited by the ghost that had come to dominate his life.” (P. 36) This was just a brief look at each character. As the book progresses you are allowed to look deeper into each character. The reader is able to watch Noah and Allie change as they grow together and build a new life.