Notebook: Love and Noah

The Notebook By Nicholas Sparks Major Characters * Allison Hamilton – seventeen year old heiress, who shared an epic summer romance to Noah. * Noah Calhoun – local country boy who fell in love to a city girl, Allison. * Anne Hamilton – Allison’s mother. * Lon Hammond – Allison’s fiance. Minor Characters * Martha Saw – a war widow, Noah’s girlfriend. * Frank Calhoun – Noah’s father. * John Hamilton – Allison’s father. * Fin – Noah’s friend. * Nurse Esther – a nurse working in the nursing home. Setting of the storyIn the movie, the setting took place in a modern day nursing home and in the story of the elderly man, the setting took place in Seabrook Island, North Carolina in the summer months of year 1940. Mood of the story The movie begins with an elderly man begins to read a story to his fellow patient. His story starts with a light and romantic moments of two young lovers sharing both their epic summer romance. As the story goes, the couple face conflicts and the characters are developing various emotional themes.At the peak of the conflict, the antagonist finally ceded on letting go and decided to make the protagonist chose her path essay writer site. It is revealed that the fellow patient is her wife and is suffering from a disease essay writers world reviews. The movie ends with gloomy scene and at the same time able to show the meaning of unconditional love. Biography of the author Sparks wrote his first novel in 1985 which never got published and another one in 1989, also not published. Sparks experimented with various careers trying to fit in but didn’t succeed.After trying his luck in publishing, law school, real estate and even waiting tables, he finally co wrote a novel named ‘A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding’ with Billy Mills Wokini. It sold about fifty thousand copies in the first year of being published. I n 1992 he tried a business in pharmaceuticals and the next year moved to Greenville, SC. That was when he wrote his renowned novel ‘The Notebook’. This novel was to become a launch pad for Sparks. A literary agent Theresa Park discovered his novel from her agency and offered to represent him.In 1995 Sparks had one million dollars in cash for ‘The Note Book’ from the famous Time Warner Book Group. After being published in 1996, ‘The Notebook’ made the best seller list of The New York Times instantly. Following this successful novel were exceptional writings one after the other out of which six were made into film adaptations. In 1999 ‘Message in a Bottle’, in 2002 ‘ A Walk to Remember, ‘The Note Book’ in 2004, ‘Nights in Rodanthe’ in 2008, then in 2010 ‘Dear John’ and ‘The Last Song’ . Nicholas Sparks has written 16 novels till 2010.His last novel till now ‘The Safe Hav en’ was published on 14th September 2010. His books ‘The Best of Me’ and also in the list ‘The Safe Haven’ are made into films and released in 2011. Another one of his book ‘The Lucky One’ is currently being filmed and will be released some time in 2012. Currently Nicholas Spark is living with his wife and five children in North Carolina. Being a religious man and firm believer in God, Sparks constantly contributes to various charities and schools. He also promotes writers by funding different scholarships, intern programs and fellowships.Sparks also started ‘MFA’ that is a creative writing program at the university he studied in (University of Notre Dame). He donated more than ten million dollars for the building of a Christian International School. Summary At a modern-day nursing home, an elderly man, whom people call â€Å"Duke† begins to read a  romantic love story from his notebook to an elderly woman, fellow p atient. His story begins in 1940. In  Seabrook Island. North Carolina, local country boy Noah Calhoun) is smitten with a seventeen-year-old heiress named Allie Hamilton after seeing her at a arnival, and they share an idyllic summer romantic love affair. Noah takes Allie to an abandoned house, which he explains he intends to buy for them. Later that evening, she asks him to make love to her, but they are interrupted by Noah's friend Fin with the news that Allie's parents have the police out looking for her. When Allie and Noah return to her parents' mansion, they ban her from seeing Noah, whom they say is â€Å"trash, trash, trash not for you! † The two break up, and the next morning, Allie's mother announces that the family is returning home to Charleston.Noah writes a letter each day to Allie for one year, but her mother, Anne, intercepts them all and keeps them hidden from Allie for an unknown reason. As each sweetheart/lover sees there is no contact from the other, Noah and Allie have no choice but to move on with their lives; Noah and Fin enlist to fight in  World Was II and Fin is killed in battle. Allie becomes a volunteer in a hospital for wounded soldiers, where she meets an officer named Lon Hammond, Jr. , a young lawyer who is handsome, sophisticated, and charming, and comes from old Southern money.The two eventually become engaged, to the delight of Allie's parents, but Allie pictures Noah's face when Lon asks her to marry him. When Noah returns home from the war, he discovers his father has sold their home so that Noah can buy the abandoned house, fulfilling his lifelong dream to buy it for Allie, whom by now he has not seen for several years. While visiting Charleston, Noah witnesses Allie and Lon playing cards at a restaurant; he convinces himself that if he fixes up the house, Allie will come back to him. Later, Allie is startled to read in the newspaper that Noah has completed the house, and she visits him in Seabrook.In the present , it is made clear that the elderly woman is in fact Allie, who is suffering from  Dementia   and cannot remember any of the events of the film so far. Duke, the man who is reading to her is, in fact, her husband, Noah, but Allie cannot recognize him. His children on a visit to see them, tells him that he needs to accept that she can't remember anymore. Duke tells them that the more he reads to their mother, the more she'll remember and he won't give up on her. Back in the 1940s, the day after Allie arrives in Seabrook, she and Noah renew their strong romantic relationship and make love.In the morning, Anne appears on Noah's doorstep, telling Allie that Lon has come to Seabrook to take her home. She takes her out for a drive and reveals that, twenty-five years earlier, she also loved a common man. Her parents disapproved of him and after banning her from seeing him again, she married her father whom they approved of being from a rich family. Anne leaves Allie with a bundle of le tters—all of Noah's letters, revealing that she had intercepted them as an attempt to protect her from getting her heart broken and hopes that she will make the right choice.Allie and Noah have an argument with each other and she leaves. While driving upset with him, she reads the last letter that he wrote her and feels betrayed by Anne for what she did in keeping the letters away from her. Allie returns to the hotel and confesses to Lon that she has been spending time with Noah. He is angry, but says that he still deeply loves her. Allie tells him she knows she should be with him, but she remains indecisive. In the present, Duke asks Allie whom she chose. Becoming lucid, she remembers that the story Duke was reading is the story of how they first met.After reading all of the letters, young Allie appears at Noah's doorstep, having left Lon at the hotel and chosen him. Elderly Allie suddenly remembers her past; after finding out about her illness, she herself wrote their story in the notebook with instructions for Noah to â€Å"read this to me, and I'll come back to you. † But minutes later Allie relapses, losing her memories of Noah again. She panics, not understanding who he is, and has to be sedated. The elderly Noah has a heart attack, and Allie is alone for a time.However, as soon as he is sufficiently recovered, Noah (â€Å"Duke†) goes to Allie's room one evening to find her lucid again. Allie questions Noah about what will happen to them when she will not be able to remember anything anymore, and he reassures her that he will never ever leave her. She asks him if he thinks their strong and mutual romantic love for each other is strong enough to â€Å"take them away together†; he replies that he thinks their strong romance could do anything. After telling each other they love one another, Noah adds â€Å"I'll be seeing you†.The next morning, a nurse comes into Allie's room, only to find Allie and Noah dead in each otherà ¢â‚¬â„¢s arms. As the camera pans out, we see they died holding hands. Interpretation The Notebook, a novel of Nicholas Sparks, his first published novel, and was based on true story. According to him, he was inspired to write this novel by the grandparents of his wife who has been married for a long time, and he tried to express that long romantic love in his novel. In the story, the socio economic status played an important role in an individual, as in the case of Anne Hamilton, on barring Noah to Allie and describing him as a trash.Much of her attitude is revealed when she believed and told Allie, that â€Å"Status is more important than feelings and our future is dictated by what we are as opposed to what we want†. This serve as antithetical statements regarding important themes in the story. Understandably she is an antagonist. In this case she acted to keep Noah away from Allie but also succeeded for 14 years. Fate and destiny is also showed in the movie which also happ ens in the real world. The one scene in the movie effectively shows the image of long lost lovers reunited.Fate may lend a hand in Allie seeing the newspaper clipping, she chose to lie to Lon and seek out Noah. The movie also embraces the exploration of love, the author also provides complications of the messiness that makes up real world love. The kind of love depicted in the movie clearly shows that it is more than a word, it covers the actions that accompany with words. Elements of the Novel Character Analysis Noah is the main character (protagonist) of  The Notebook. In many regards, Noah is the ideal man — he is faithful, idealistic, strong, good looking, a poet, and helpful to those in need.The Noah of the main narrative is almost too good to be true. He has a strong relationship with family and friends and is respectful to both nature and authority. He seemingly has no faults. Allie wants the best of both worlds as she represents the different types of love that exis t. In essence she is the embodiment of a thematic topic. As Allie grows and matures, so does her understanding of love. Her growth symbolizes the development of real love. Lon s the stereotypical, self-obsessed individual who realizes too late that his self-absorption is going to cost him his fiancee.Lon is also the embodiment of the conflict in  The Notebook. As a character, he is the one readers know as the obstacle to Allie's love. He is a dynamic character, but his change is a little too late. Anne is the antagonist. Although she works to keep Noah and Allie apart, she cannot be considered a villain, for she is not evil. Anne represents the difficulties that many parents have when trying to steer their children to adulthood. Fourteen years later, she attempts to atone for earlier mistakes, first by preparing Allie for Lon's impending visit, then by offering her support without being pushy.She also finally gives Noah's letters to Allie, and her final words may be encouraging Al lie to follow her heart. Point of View Instead of starting at the beginning and telling the story in chronological order, Nicholas Sparks beginsThe Notebook  near the end of what would be a linear narration and then employs both the framing technique and flashback to tell his tale. The main storyline is the reunion of Noah and Allie and the conflict that they face as they must decide the path their lives will now take.This particular event only lasts three days in 1946; however, important information that shapes their reunion occurred weeks and years earlier. If you imagine a picture in a frame, the reunion is the photograph. And the opening and closing chapters of the novel are set in the present, some 49 years later. The present-day storyline frames the reunion story. Although the frame represents the present and current storyline and the picture represents the reunion, within these two main storylines are other stories, some are episodes and others are vignettes, which are told in the form of a flashback.These stories, told within the context of the other storylines, fit within both the picture and the frame. And some of these smaller stories of earlier events frame even smaller stories of other events. Each story is distinct within itself while simultaneously being an integral part of a greater whole; every individual picture is a part of a bigger picture. This framework technique provides the structure of the plot, and flashback is the technique Sparks uses to tell the stories.Characters reveal these â€Å"framed† stories through their shared and private memories. Often the reader shares a flashback with a character that is not shared with any other character. The narrator also provides information. The narrator of  The Notebook  in the opening and closing chapters is Noah. But the narrator of the middle chapters provides a limited, third-person omniscient point of view. This perspective sometimes allows the readers into the mind of a charact er — typically Noah and Allie — but sometimes does not — such as Anne and Lon.This technique is important because it allows the storyline to flow seamlessly from past to present and back again. Stylistically, the narrative techniques work well because  The Notebook  is not just a love story; the novel also explores the nature of fate and free will and the way people interact with one another. The intricacies of relationships parallel the intricacies of poetry and the framing technique enables Sparks to weave the past together with the present, leading to the emotional climax and creating a compelling read along the way.