Character Analysis of Jamie Sullivan in Nicholas Sparks' 'A Walk to Remember'

Throughout life a person experiences many obstacles, challenges, and hardships; sometimes faced alone, left fearful, and at times confused. In the novel Walking Home by Eric Walters, Muchoki is forced to live through the trauma of seeing his father burned and beaten to death, while also witnessing his mother’s decease from malaria. Muchoki is an exemplary individual who has shown great perseverance in the face of adversity. Regardless of the fact that he was losing the closest people he had in his life, he found the strength to continue onwards towards the future rather

In times of struggle, people can be in quite different situations but still come to similar conclusions. Authors Ian McEwan and Paul Elwork, push their protagonists to extremes in their stories but come to a similar conclusion: that to move on in their lives they need to find forgiveness. Briony Tallis in Ian McEwan’s novel ‘Atonement’ leads her family through a long period of denial due to a life-ruining lie she created. Years after the event Briony is still trying to fix her mistakes as she finds she cannot live in a world without reparation. Similarly, Emily Stewart in Paul Elwork’s novel ‘The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead’ lies to people who, after the recent war, are grieving for

In the novel Twisted, the author Laurie Halse Anderson gives a message that life is not always easy but you will get through it. The main character in this novel Tyler struggles through many difficult events in his life that drag him down to suicidal thoughts. Anderson gives this message by using the literary devices of Historical Context, Characterization, and Mood. These three elements help bring together the important message that every reader needs to catch.

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them”, says Maya Angelou, an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. This quote reflects to Sarah’s journey in the novel Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, since the main character, Sarah, faces events that affect her well being, as they make her both weaker and stronger. These events causes her to lose her innocence, makes her persistent, and then eventually drives her to be pessimistic. Sarah experiences traumatic events through her journey, which leads her to change both in a positive and negative way.

Many say that events, good and bad, from childhood shape a person’s future. Things like the death of a loved one, domestic violence, expectations and economic struggles can surely mould one's true self. However, the gap between finding the person they want to become and the one to avoid becoming is controlled solely by the way one chooses to handle these things in life. This is directly connected to the novel, Crow Lake by Mary Lawson, in which the life of Kate Morrison and her three siblings is depicted. The children are faced with tragedy when both their parents are killed in a fatal car accident and they are left orphaned to fend for themselves. The novel perfectly embodies what it takes to get through extremely tough times and push in order

Society often fail to understand and see the mental pain that individuals carry throughout their lives. Some people bear its burden, while others suffer greatly because of it, to the point of choosing self-destruction. The narrators from “The Gargoyle” (Davidson) and “Walk to Morning” (Boyden) both experience this pain that ultimately sets them on a course to a deep pit. They survive their near-deaths and later encounter unique life-changing people. As a result, they become better individuals.

Have you ever wondered if the ordeals you went through could become a “rite of passage?” These ordeals could be a big event that could change a person’s entire foundation, such as marriage, or it can be something small, like being inspired to cook because of feedback. The novella, “The Body” written by Gordie Lachance, elaborates about the author’s childhood where he and his friends went through an ordeal that is a rite of passage. This ordeal was considered a journey for the boys as they believed in the frame and glory once they found the corpse of Ray Browser, a young boy around the same age as the author and his friends. The journey started out as an easygoing adventure, a playful type that could be considered as an innocent boy running in the park playing tag with his buddies. However, the journey changes into a more “serious business” for the author and his friends have to face many circumstances where it becomes flight-or-fight situations. In the novella, Gordie reveals many insights into the characteristics of his friends and himself

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, the protagonist, a freshman named Melinda must learn the key to recovery after enduring extreme trauma. She struggled to find someone to speak to, due to the school shunning her for calling the police at the party. Throughout Speak, Melinda seeks to recover from the trauma she experienced, especially the cruel actions from her ex-friends. Through symbolism, Laurie Halse Anderson displays the theme in Melinda's perspective.

Among those writers was S.E. Hinton, who’s realistic fiction novel, “The Outsiders,” seized the truth of the 1950’s. Demonstrating my effects drove the plot as the protagonist, Ponyboy Curtis, grappled the harsh reality of being apart from both society and his own gang (shmoop.com). Hinton strived to prove how greasers of the time suffered the agony of my existence. Cold, punitive, and desperate were the lives they lived, as outsiders exiled from society. Despite the odds and my attendance in the novel’s theme, the characters conquered the situation and weren’t weakened by pain, but used it to grow and learn. Most victims fall to weakness in bleak moments, but the survivors and fighters utilize the experience to their advantage, to grow stronger. Defeat is common while I am present, but a route of escape from the dark can be discovered by real people with the aid that literature

Helen Keller once said,” Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet, only through the experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” Building character is not like graphing a linear line, where its only one straight . Our character is defined by our setbacks and grieves, by what we do, how dealt with it, and why. Each choice we make and actions we take daily determine the legacy of our character. This quote embodies the pain and struggles the narrator and Sunny had to endure to understand each other character. This essay will analyze “Sunny Blues” by James Baldwin, it will employ a literary analysis that focuses on characterization.

The story of Sarah touched the lives of many characters in the book “Sarah’s Key” by Tatiana De Rosnay. Sarah had such a profound impact on every character in the book, whether it is the scarring and unforgettable memories they have of her or new information they have gathered from the past. Julia invested her entire life into finding out more about Sarah, her life, and what happened to her after a daring escape from a concentration camp. She sacrificed her marriage and many personal relationships because she cared so deeply and passionately about Sarah and what had happened to her. Julia blocked out all of the negative opinions and people telling her to stop and worked nonstop to learn the truth, to never close her eyes on the past. The brutal past of Sarah left a

“After a traumatic experience, the human system of self preservation seems to go into permanent alert, as if the danger might return at any moment” (Judith Lewis Herman). The psychoanalyst Lewis Herman describes how encountering agonizing pain causes individuals to become more cautious as a result. The psychoanalytic lens is based on Freudian theories and asserts that “ people’s behavior is affected by their unconscious:...the notion that human beings are motivated, even driven, by desire, fears, needs, and conflicts of which they are unaware…” (Tyson 14-15) High schools a place where tragedy are brought upon people, but their voices aren’t heard. Melinda, a high school freshman, is the protagonist in Laurie Halse Anderson’s book, Speak.

Psychologist and best-selling author Clarissa Pinkola Estes, who using stories in therapy says, “Stories act like an antibiotic that finds the source of the infection and concentrates there. The story help makes that part of the psyche clear and strong again.”4 In her book Remember the Time, Eileen Silva Kindig recalls a woman who is very depressed after the death of her husband until a young couple moved in next door whom the woman conversed with and shared stories. The woman’s daughter told Kindig the more she shared her stories and knowledge, the more vital she even

Rich successfully uses strong images and an extended metaphor to establish a theme that shows that by re-examining a hurtful experience one can experience a rebirth of their

It is through the physical pain that the reader understands the emotional strain and turmoil of the protagonist’s plight. The juxtaposition of survival and living are never more evident here. Her children are kidnapped; killed or sold. She has a body still recovering from the birth of a child, and she is forced to take her mother’s place, as a victim of domestic violence and sexual assault. Walker cleverly crafts this sense of desperation with Celie’s soul baring letters to god, the reader realizes she is has no one else to turn to; her writing only re-enforces her father's control over her. Her persevering spirit is what makes her survival so unique in the sense that she does not become embittered through any of it. “I look at woman, tho, cause I am not scared of them.” Telling god that she has not been traumatized at all by her mother’s passing, in fact, she goes further on “Mabey cause my mamma cuss me you think I kept mad at her. But I ain’t I feel sorry for her. (Walker, 5)” This for the reader is the most heart-breaking stance that she takes, as the reader is aware of the fact that her mother hated Celie’s guts with writing agony because her husband choose to rape her when she could not have sex with him. The reader singularly carries this sense of desperation for the protagonist as she continues to power through the intensity that surrounds her.