The Notebook Literary Analysis

In the novel, The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, two young teenagers fall into a passionate love for one another while Ally and her family are vacationing in New Bern for the summer. A summer that Ally and Noah thought would last a lifetime quickly comes to an end when Ally and her family must return home. Several years later, Ally is now engaged while Noah struggles to forget Ally’s love. Ally must seek for answers as she returns to New Bern years after the finding of her first love; consequently, she can't let the memories conflict with her responsibilities.

Since the summer of vacationing in Noah’s town, Ally’s parents hesitated to allow their daughter to see Noah. Ally asks Noah why he has not contacted her over the years to let her know

When she left her home to arrive at New Bern to seek for answers, Ally was convinced that she was making the right choice and it was a good idea. But as one day passes of her being with Noah, Ally feels as if there is a feeling lingering in the air, and in that fleeting moment she wonders if she has fallen in love with Noah again. But if she continues to spend a lot of time with Noah, then she will not want to be separated from him as they did one summer. The next day comes, and Noah and Ally go out on the lake in a row boat behind Noah’s house. They began to talk easily to one another as if there isn’t a care in the world, but Ally believes her and Lon have this same characteristic and assumed Lon was really all she needs. After having this thought, Ally begins to watch Noah as he is rowing at the other side of the small boat and starts to question this basic assumption. The last day of visiting Noah is, what Ally thinks to be, wonderful as they sit by the fire and talk to one another. Ally looks towards Noah admiring, to herself, his delightful self. “She realized then that something had changed since she’d come here…. she knew that she had fallen in love with Noah Taylor Calhoun again, and that maybe, she had never stopped”