A+Walk+To+Remember

= = =A Walk To Remember= Summary: ** A prank goes horribly wrong when a group of teenagers convinces another boy from their school to jump from a water tower into the shallow pool below. When he is seriously hurt everyone in the group but Landon Carter runs off as the police come and Landon gets the blame. As his punishment he is forced to tutor disadvantaged students on Saturdays and participate in the school play. It is here he meets Jamie Sullivan; the school outcast. Although the two don’t get along at first when Landon decides to try harder with his lines in the play he asks Jamie for help. He keeps their meetings a secret around his friends because of her unpopular status. Although he doesn’t realise it Jamie has an effect on him and he goes to visit the boy he helped put in hospital after the prank. After the school play Landon’s friends are worried that he’s changed because of Jamie and devise a plan to humiliate Jamie. Landon defends Jamie and in turn is exiled by his friends. Landon asks Jamie’s father if he may take his daughter out and the two begin dating. Later when the two get close Jamie admits to Landon that she is dying of Leukemia. Landon vows to stick by her as she grows weaker. For the next few months Landon does everything in his power to fulfil some of Jamie’s life dreams such as building her a telescope to see a rare comet. When his old friends learn the news they help him out and put aside their past bitterness. As she grows weaker Landon proposes to her and they get married in the same church her parents did. She soon dies but the spirit if Jamie lives on in Landon inspiring him to live his life.

A walk to remember is an emotionally charged and sad interpretation of star crossed lovers. Although the lovers meet in a different scenario (mainly because of the time period of the 1950’s which it was set in) they also have the problems of their relationship not being accepted. Before this all happens there was one major difference to Romeo and Juliet. Jamie and Landon had known each other long before any relationship formed (Jamie mentions knowing him in kindergarten) and during those years they hated each other. This would have occurred as living in the same area they would have gone to the same schools and grown up with each other. In comparison Romeo and Juliet lived in a time where they didn’t go to school and they weren’t as free to come and go places. Therefore not knowing the people in the same town as them. Although their families weren’t in any sort of feud when the two did first start dating there was some objection from both their families. Jamie’s father, a church pastor, didn’t approve as he thought Landon was a bad influence. Landon’s mother didn’t like the idea either as Jamie was the daughter of the towns pastor. Half way through the story both families (and even Landon’s friends) accept their relationship and support it. A similarity however is that both the couples ended up getting married. Romeo and Juliet get married only a few days after meeting, however this was considered common in their time. Jamie and Landon wait until later in their relationship but at what would have been considered a very young age for the time. Their decision for marriage would also have been swayed by Jamie’s short life expectancy due to her illness. Another similarity although it occurred through very different means was death at the end of the story. The major defining feature of this story which gave it such a tragic ending was revealed when Jamie confessed to Landon she was dying of Leukaemia. With this it put a modern problem into the classic love story as their time together ran out quickly. When she did die Landon wasn’t swayed to take his own life too but found new strength to go on and achieve things as Jamie would have wanted.
 * Similarities and Differences:**

The story explores into the values of love, faith, and spirituality. Faith and spirituality were incorporated mostly by Jamie. She was always ridiculed at school about her strong faith and was always seen carrying a bible with her. There were many mentions in the story that brought different aspects of spirituality and religion throughout the plot. This could be closely linked with the values in Romeo and Juliet as both the Capulets and Montagues were very religious. They often went to church and confession and talked to Friar Lawrence for council. Evidence of Jamie’s dedicated religious views are shown in her commitment to virginity. Even while falling in love with Landon, she never contemplates sleeping with him before marriage. Landon accepts her beliefs and the two are happy without the physical part of their relationship. This is also similiar to Romeo and Juliet who also get married before engaging in postmarital intercourse. Reconciliation and forgiveness are apparent with Landon as he struggles with his relationship with his father who walked out on him and his mother. His father attempts to approach him after the school play but Landon quickly walks off, ignoring him. Later on when Jamie is admitted to hospital as her health deteriorates Landon’s father pays for homecare so that Jamie doesn’t have to stay in the hospital. It is here that father and son being to reconnect and reconcile. In general, A Walk to Remember is a story of the beauty, power and innocence of first love.
 * Values:**