SCRATCH PAPER OR "THE NOTEBOOK"

SCRATCH PAPER

OR

"THE NOTEBOOK"
"Good morrow, what tidings hath thou brought?"
-JOHN LORENZ M. OBNIALA

"ADIUE..."
-BRAZEN HALL MOON

"NICHOLAS, YOU HAVE GAVE ME A SHOCK. IT IS BECAUSE OF YOUR SPARK"

(IN COMPLIANCE OF THE SUBJECT ENGLISH IV)

I do not if you have a diary or you are just fond of writing, I notice that you (Nicholas Spark) are a great writer. I liked your book titled the “The Notebook.” I like reading stories within a story. The story is told on two levels - one is the present day when Allie and Noah have grown old and live in a home; the other is the story Noah reads from the notebook in which he tells how he and Allie met, fell in love, lost each other, and then found each other again. The end of their love story is tragically altered by Allie’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, but even that has no power over their love.

Love conquers all. Although this idea is sometimes overworked, in this particular work, it is the most prevalent theme of all. Where will you find two lovers love each other even though they are apart? No matter how many setbacks Allie and Noah faced, their love always brought them together again.

“Noah is also left with the belief that miracles, no matter how inexplicable or unbelievable, are real and can occur without regard to the natural order of things.” Here Noah prepares us for the final miracle he will experience in his relationship with Allie. He wants to tell us that his love for Allie will not fade even though space and time came between them.

Follow your heart. Allie had spent fourteen years in fear of hurting her family and friends if she deviated from the standard way of living for her social class. It was only when she realized that she and Noah were meant to be together that she made the right decision and followed her heart.

You cannot live your life in fear of hurting others. Allie nearly learned this hard way when she almost gave in to her fear of hurting her family and friends by choosing Noah. Only with the reading of his final letter to her written twelve years before was she able to see that it was her life to live, and no one should be able to force her in a direction she didn’t want to go.

If you are wondering who the main characters in the story are, I will tell you now. As I read this book, I become more curious on to the story. Here are some of the lists of characters:

The narrator of the book and the main character, Noah Taylor Calhoun is a good and kind man who fell in love with Allie fourteen years before the novel opens. He has never forgotten her and is overwhelmed with how much he still loves her when she returns to tell him she is engaged.

A young woman who comes from a privileged family, Allison Nelson spends a wonderful summer with Noah when they are young, but is forced to leave when her parents disapprove. She meets Lon and becomes engaged to him, but something in her makes her return to Noah to be sure she is not making a mistake.

Lon Hamilton is Allie’s fiancé, who fights for her in the end, but is too late. He has allowed his career to disrupt any hope he may have had to win her for himself.

Morris Goldman is a Jewish man who hires Noah for eight years in his scrap yard and leaves him part of his assets as an inheritance, which then allows Noah to restore his house.

Gus is the black man who lives down the road from the house Noah has restored. He becomes Noah’s only family until Allie returns.

Anne Nelson is Allie’s mother and had so disapproved of her being with Noah that she had never delivered his letters to her daughter. She comes to warn them that Lon is on his way to confront them both, and she finally gives Allie the letters. When she leaves, she whispers to Allie that she should follow her heart.


KEY FACTS ABOUT “THE NOTEBOOK”

Author:

Nicholas Sparks

Date Published:

1996

Meaning of the Title:

It refers to the diary that Allie writes in about the events in her life, which ultimately tells the story Noah reads everyday to his wife to keep the memories of their love alive.

Setting:

New Bern, North Carolina, 1932, 1946, and the present day at Creekside Extended Care Facility

Protagonists:

Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson

Antagonists:

Allie’s parents who don’t think Noah is good enough for their daughter and Lon, who neglects the woman he loves by prioritizing his career ahead of her.

Mood:

The mood is at times troubling and even quite sad, but for the most part is continuously hopeful and uplifting.

Point of View:

The point of view is first person in the first and last chapters and third person in the remainder of the novel.

Tense:

The story is told in the past tense.


I am not fond of reading books that are too long that’s why I thought of an idea. I browsed through the internet and I found there the book I need. I only found a summary of that book and base on that summary I made my book review. If I will a chance to buy that book, I will buy 10 copies of and give it to my friends so that they could also read that.