Themes Of Growing Up And Faith A Walk To Remember

In A Walk to Remember, 57-year-old Landon Carter narrates a story of his senior year taking place in late 1958 to early 1959 at Beaufort High in Beaufort, North Carolina, a small coastal port city with Baptist churches in every other corner and a town where everyone knows everyone. The main characters in this book are the two star crossed lovers Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan. Landon Carter narrates the novel as he recalls his senior year of high school as a fifty-seven-year-old.

Seventeen-year-old Landon Carter is portrayed as an immature and rebellious teenager with little regard for the rules and others around him. Landon is a careless and judgemental “popular kid” who has better things to do that go to school. As the novel progresses, a series of events force him to grow up and mature very quickly. Through meeting Jamie, he slowly learns how to behave selflessly and be considerate to others. Landon explores religion and faith throughout the novel and by the end of the story, he has learned what it truly means to be kind and selfless, something that would have been stupid and meaningless to him before he got to know Jamie.

Jamie Sullivan is seventeen-years-old and the daughter of Reverend Hegbert Sullivan. From the very beginning of the novel, Jamie has always been very religious, so religious that she carries her bible everywhere she goes. She is always happy and cheerful and likes to see the best in everyone and in every situation and is always ready to help those in need. Her kindness and selflessness gives her a sense of innocence. Towards the end of the novel, after everything that happens to Jamie, her innocence is somewhat lost and replaced by a maturity that is way beyond her years. Her faith is tested constantly towards the end of the book but she believes in the Lord and the Lords Plan and isn’t ready to give up on him.

A Walk to Remember is a classic coming of age novel with the themes of growing up and faith.

Growing up and adolescence is one of the main themes found in this novel. At the beginning of the novel, seventeen-year-old Landon is portrayed as an immature and rebellious teenager with little regard for the rules. As the novel progresses, a series of events force him to grow up and mature very quickly. Through meeting Jamie, he slowly learns how to behave selflessly and be considerate to others. Landon explores religion and faith throughout the novel and by the end of the story, he has learned what it truly means to be kind and selfless. The way he handles himself during difficult times towards the end of the story shows how he has taken a huge step toward becoming a responsible and considerate adult.

Towards the beginning of the novel, faith is presented heavily through Jamie Sullivan’s character. Jamie has always been very religious and has faith in God no matter what happens. In breaks at school, rather than socializing with her peers, Jamie prefers to read the Bible and strengthen her connection to the Lord. Landon, alternatively, has little interest in religion. He attends church only because everyone is expected to do so. As the novel progresses, we see Landon develop a better understanding of and respect for religious faith. He finds himself turning to religion for answers and is often found praying and reading the bible for guidance. The novel heavily features faith and religion and shows different perspectives of faith.

This novel is a heart-warming and achingly moving novel that will have you weeping for the joy and the tragedy of it all. The book is pretty slow moving towards the beginning of it. It takes the author a while to set the scenario and introduce the storyline but once the actual story begins, you won’t want to put the book down. Once over the initial speed bumps, the storyline flows beautifully and is an easy read. I found it very interesting that the book was written in Landon’s perspective. Not many romance novels are written in the male’s perspective and I find it intriguing to see what it is like from the other genders’ perspective. This novel keeps the reader engaged and interested as the story progresses with different plot twists that the reader won’t be able to see coming. This genre of book does not always appeal to everyone, however, if you want a great love story to read, I would definitely recommend A Walk to Remember to anyone and everyone. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and would rate the book 4.5 out of 5 stars.