The book, A Walk to Remember, began with a short prologue in the eyes of Landon Carter vaguely "warning" the reader of the touching and heartbreaking story that he was about to tell. This story took place forty years ago, when he was 17 years old, and the event that took place changed his life forever. With the help of a very smooth and clever transition, he takes you back to the year 1958 in Beaufort, North Carolina. Beaufort is a small town, hardly recognized on the map, and had eighteen churches within the town's limits. He introduces Hegbert Sullivan, minister of the Southern Baptist Church. Hegbert Sullivan had his first child, Jamie Sullivan, at the age of 55. His wife died during childbirth, after having six prior miscarriages. Hegbert turns his traumatic story into a heart-wrenching play, put on by the church, called The Christmas Angel. The play was a huge success and had to be moved to the Beaufort Playhouse. Hegbert decided that he wanted seniors of the town's high school to act out the roles in the play because he believes it will "save the young ones from temptation." That year, Jamie Sullivan played the angel. Landon signs up for a part in the play because he thinks it will be an easy class and a time for him to catch up on his sleep. Landon's grandfather is the man who made the family fortune by swindling many in around the time of the depression. Hegbert gets into ministry after working for his grandfather and witnessing his power-abuse. Jamie was a bit of an outcast; she did not care of her outer appearance, but rather inner-beauty. She carried her Bible everywhere and spent her breaks reading passages. The adults of Beaufort would always verbally hope that the world would have more people like her, but for the teens, one Jamie Sullivan was enough. On that first day of drama class, as Landon takes a look across, he notices that Jamie has grown up into a fairly attractive girl, and she stopped and smiled at him, happy to see him in her class. The first chapter closes with, "it wasn't until later that I would learn the reason why."
New Vocabulary:
• sinewy-- [adj.] sturdy, strong
• denomination-- [noun] group or branch of any religion
• heathen-- [noun] atheist, non-believer
• bigwig-- [noun] important person
• infiltrate-- [verb] surreptitiously and gradually enter to gain access to
• prohibition-- [noun] prevention by law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol (in U.S. between 1920 and 1933)
• retribution-- [noun] morally right and fully deserved punishment
• shrewd-- [adj.] astute
• bootlegger-- [noun] person who makes, distributes, or sells illegally
• digress-- [verb] leave main subject temporarily
• bona fide-- [adj.] genuine, real
Reflection:
Question: How has the author framed or structured this particular section of the book?
Nicholas Sparks is writing this novel in, so far, the eyes of Landon Carter. He begins with Landon at the age of 57 years old. With a very smooth transition, a flashback takes him to where the whole life-changing experience happened, just about forty years ago.
"I close my eyes and the years begin to move in reverse, slowly ticking backward, like the hands of a clock rotating in the wrong direction. As if through someone else's eyes, I watch myself grow younger; I see my hair changing from gray to brown, I feel the wrinkles around my eyes begin to smooth, my arms and legs grow sinewy. Lessons I've learned with age grow dimmer, and my innocence returns as that eventful year approaches. Then, like me, the world begins to change: roads narrow and some become gravel, suburban sprawl has been replaced with farmland, downtown streets teem with people, looking in windows as the pass Sweeney's bakery and Palka's meat shop. Men wear hats, women wear dresses. At the courthouse up the street, the bell tower rings.... I open my eyes and pause. I am standing outside the Baptist church, and when I stare at the gable, I know exactly who I am. My name is Landon Carter, and I' m seventeen years old. This is my story; I promise to leave nothing out. First you will smile, and then you will cry--don't say you haven't been warned" (page xiii).
In this short passage from the book, this author makes use of semi-colons, colons, lists, dashes, and creates wonderful images with his detail. The last sentence intrigues me, as the reader, and makes me want to continue reading; I would like to know just how well he executes this story in such a manner that would make me physically smile or tear-up.
I really like the way he chose to organize his story--beginning with Landon looking back at his life and then shifting into the actual time when the moment took place where he can show the story versus telling the story.
He also introduces characters necessary in his story and their background by going off onto tangents. But he recovers well onto the story-path by using transition lines like "but, anyways," or "but, back to the story." In the first chapter, Nicholas Sparks is really just setting the tone and putting forth enough information so that the rest will flow in the story, but also flow in the minds of the readers (in understanding everything given). For example, in a really teary spot, he won't have to pause or break to explain who Hegbert is, or how Landon's family is so well-off.
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