Tim’s Notes on Sparks’

“A Walk To Remember”

Diagram of the book

For those of you who may be reading this for an English class, I thought I would diagram the story for you. We all know how teachers love story diagrams. Mine did and I’m sure yours do as well.

The EXPOSITION is the part of the story which sets things up; it introduces characters and setting.

The exposition of A Walk To Remember is the the prologue and first two chapters.

The HOOK (a.k.a. Narrative Hook) is the part of the story which catches the reader’s attention and “hooks” them into the story.

I have come up with three possible Narrative Hooks for the book A Walk To Remember. The first is at the end of chapter two when Landon discovers in Drama class that Jamie has developed breasts . The second is when Landon decides to ask Jamie to the Homecoming Dance. The third is when Jamie asks Landon to play Tom Thornton in the play and he accepts.

Of these three, the strongest case can be made for the first. It happens first in the story, at the end of a chapter. It is also the thing that puts the idea in Landon’s head that Jamie is not as he always thought she was. He notices that she is growing up.

The RISING ACTION is where the bulk of the story usually takes place.

The Rising Action consists of the following events: The Homecoming Dance, The Play, Landon Picking up Jamie’s donations for the orphans, Christmas Eve at the Orphanage, Christmas Day at the Carters, and several days after that when Landon and Jamie are seeing each other.

The CLIMAX of the novel is the point in the story where the reader can see what is going to happen during the rest of the story.

The climax of A Walk To Remember is when Jamie tells Landon that she has Leukemia. At this point we all know that he loves her dearly and will do whatever will make her happy. She has already told him that all she wants out of life is to get married. When she tells him this on one of their walks home the author is FORESHADOWING the climax of the story.

The FALLING ACTION consists of all of the events that happen after the climax that bring about the resolution of the story.

In A Walk To Remember this consists of all the time Jamie and Landon spend together after she revealed her illness and got progressively sicker.

The RESOLUTION of the story is where the author brings the story to a close. He or she ties up any loose ends and generally shows how the main character is changed in some way.

The resolution of the story is the Wedding and an Adult Landon concluding the story.

There it is. I hope that this is helpful to you.