V.

Plot

 Exposition

The prologue starts off with a 57-year-old Landon Carter, who flashbacks
an event back when he was a 17-year-old. Landon lived in Beaufort, North
Carolina where he described all the church that is know in their place. Hegbert
Sullivan, a minister from a baptist church appears as the first character
introduced, who was also the writer of a school play titled “The Christmas
Angel”, took the initiative to make his own daughter, Jamie Sullivan, the main
role for the play in the year 1958. Jamie’s father used to work for Landon’s
Grandfather whom he never liked, so he was never in good terms with their
family. He also didn’t like Landon for being a notorious troublemaker. Jamie
Sullivan, the “Plane Jane” who always carried a bible with her, was considered
weird and out-of-style by kids her age. Landon has known her ever since
kindergarten. Worth Carter is Landon’s father who is a famous business
congressman, and never had time for his son. Landon and his father’s
relationship is somewhat obscure because of the fact that they never do
communicate casually. Landon grew up with his mother acting up both roles
of a mother and a father.

 Conflict

His school had a Homecoming dance so he had to find a date to attend

with him. As Jamie being the last option, he convinced her to go with him, but
before proceeding to the dance, she made him promise not to fall in love with
her. During the dance, Landon’s ex-girlfriend, Angela, drank too much and
threw up and Jamie, being the angel she was, helped her clean up. Later that
night they drove Angela home and Landon couldn’t believe how nice Jamie
was to her.

 Rising Action

Three days before Christmas Eve, Jamie asked him a favor. She asked if
he could go to the orphanage with her on Christmas Eve to drop off the
presents for the orphans. He didn’t have the heart to turn her down so he
ended up with her to visit the said orphanage. Jamie then said that she had a
 gift for Landon. It was under the tree. Already knowing what it was, Landon
took it and teared it up to reveal the bible that she always carried around.

 Climax

A few days later, he was walking her home from the diner and he noticed
Jamie acting strange. She kept asking him what other people’s opinion about
her. She asked if people thought she was strange and he said yes, but he kept
reassuring her that she was a wonderful person and that whatever others
think of her is not her problem. He said to her, “I love you Jamie. You’re the
best thing that ever happened to me.”she started crying as soon as he finished
saying that. She kept on saying, “Please don’t say that” and “I’m sorry”
repeatedly, She then told him that he can’t be in love with her because she is
sick. But not the normal flu kind of sick. She had leukemia and was dying.

 Falling Action

What he needed to do is make Jamie’s wish come true, which is to marry

her. He asked permission to her father to marry her and he was too shocked
to speak, but didn’t say no. He then ran to Jamie as fast as he could. This time,
he asks if she can do him a favor and asked if he could marry her in which she
said yes.

 Resolution

They got married in the church Jamie’s mother and father were married
in. Landon, years later can still remember the event vividly and has never
taken his wedding ring off.

VI. Conflict

Jamie had leukemia, which was the main conflict of the story. It led to
insecurities and doubts which fueled the main characters’ determination to
fulfill each others’ passion for their love.
VII. Symbolisms

1. When Jamie sits on the floor at the orphanage on Christmas Eve with a
sleeping child on her lap, she is the symbolic image of the Virgin Mary and
the child Jesus Christ.

2. Jamie’s mother’s bible symbolizes her innate goodness and the piece of
herself she gives to Landon.

3. The simultaneous moon rise and sunset on Bogue Island which Landon
takes Jamie to see symbolizes their love and the beauty of a well-lived life.

4. The card drawn by Roger showing a bird soaring above a rainbow

symbolizes Jamie’s slow rising to God.

5. Jamie’s walk down the aisle , “A walk to remember”, symbolizes her

strength and her love that is returned tenfold by all those who watch her
meet her man she loves. The walk to remember is literally Jamie’s walk
down the aisle to marry Landon, but it also a metaphor for the journeys we
all must take in life to give our lives to all the characters and to the readers
as well.

II. Setting

The story takes place in the United States of America in the state of
North Carolina. The story is set in Beaufort. The setting alternates from
their school, where Jamie and Landon have both been attending for
years together. The orphanage where Jamie visits most of her time while
Landon consistently accompanies her.
Background of the Author

 Sparks was born on December 31, 1965 in Omaha, Nebraska

 He and his wife, Cathy, resides in New Bern, North Carolina together with
their three sons and twin daughters until 2014. On January 6, 2015, Sparks
announced that he and his wife had separated.

 He wrote his first novel, “The Passing”, in 1985, as a student at the University
of Notre Dame.

 After college, Sparks worked with publishers, and applied to law school, but
was rejected. He then spent the next three years trying other careers including
real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone and
starting his own manufacturing business.

 With the success of his first novel, he moved to New Bern, North Carolina and
wrote several international bestsellers, and several of his novels have been
adapted as films.