Sunday, October 17, 2010

The Notebook


The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks begins in a nursing home with an elderly man reading a story. The story he reads is about two teenagers named Allie Hamilton and Noah Calhoun who meet one summer and fall in love. However, they are torn apart by Allie's parents who do not approve of Noah's poor family when they move Allie away. Allie waits for Noah to write her for years, but she gives up hope of it working out between them and gets engaged to a young man named Lon. Allie's family also falls in love with Lon's charm and the fact that he's from old southern money. After seeing a picture of Noah in the newspaper, Allie wants to clear her mind of him and decides to visit him one last time before she is married. When she stops by Noah's house, it's obvious they both still have feelings for each other. Allie has to make the heartbreaking decision of either choosing her fiance or her first love.

1. Allie's mother hides the letters Noah writes to Allie to prevent them from ever seeing each other again. Is it okay for parents to control who their children are involved with because of the expectations they have for their children to live up to?
2. Allie's parents seem to be more concerned with the financial situation of who she is involved with than she is. Are financial statuses important in keeping a healthy relationship?

6 comments:

Kristen R. 11-12 said...

To answer the first question, no I do not think it's acceptable for parents to control who their children become involved with relationship wise. I think in order for teenagers to learn what type of person is most compatible for them, they need to make mistakes and experience poor relationships in order to determine what it is that they want to find in their soulmate later on in life. To answer the second question, I think that, in a way, financial statuses are important in order to keep healthy relationships. However, if a person truly loves a person, money will not matter. Nevertheless, it is still important to most people that the person that he or she is involved with is able to support themselves financially.

Bojana Duric said...

1. I think children need to learn about life on their own. Parents can only lead their children so far, until the child is old enough and independent enough to break away from his or her parents. Part of breaking away from one's parents is choosing your life, which includes who you want to date, what you want to be, etc.

2. I think financial statuses are important to an extent. Two people in a relationship should have enough money to live comfortably, but they should not think money is the answer to happiness, because it is not. True love is what leads to happiness, not money.

allie s 11-12 said...

1) i have to agree with the other two comments about how parents shouldnt control who their children are involed with, but they can have their own opinions. It all depends on the actions they take with their children. But they cant force their child not to care for someone or not love someone.
2) A healthy relationship i think is a happy one. I understand that you need to have enough money to survive and take care of your family, but money doesnt make a relationship stong; love, understanding and happiness leads to a healthy reltionship :)

Courtney R 5-6 said...

I believe that parents should at least have a say in who their children are involved with to a certain extent. I don't believe that they should straiight up tell their child that they cannot see someone or hang out with certain people. I believe that they should be able to freely voice their opinions on who their children spend their time with because as a parent, it is their job to ensure the safety of their child. But with respect to the situation in the novel, I do not think that this type of control by way of the parents is acceptable because Noah has done nothing wrong. If he, or other people parents in general don't like, had done something wrong or bad, I then think parents have the right to intervene.
For the second question, I wouldn't jump to say that finicial statuses are importnant in keeping a healthy relationship, but it may help. I believe that healthy relationships should most definitely survive off love. Although it is not entirely practical to lead a good life if you are broke. I can understand that Allie's parents are concerned, but I don't believe they have the right to tell her she cannot be with someone because of his money stance.

Emily C. 13-14 said...

1) I don't think that parents should be able to control who their children are involved with. They can't control their child's life and pick who they date and who they hang out with, because the child needs to learn on their own about life, and not have another person controlling it. Parent may think they doing the right thing for their children by doing what Allie's parents did, but in the end they are only hurting their child. If the relationship was not meant to be then it is part of life the a person to learn on their own. And if it is meant to be then it is not right for a parent to prevent their child from a relationship just because they do not approve.

2) i think as long as two people are happy with eachother and in a relationship than the financial status should not matter. You can't base a relationship on money because money does not create love and is not able to hold a relationship together.

Jacci L. 11-12 said...

2. A healthy relationship isn't based on how much money someone has to offer the other person. To most people, the more money, the better, but is that relationship actually love or love for money? If two people are honestly in love, something like money wouldn't affect how they feel for each other and their decision on wanting to be together. Most people are completely happy with being poor because they have the one they love beside them and a family and that's all that really matters. Money can just make people unhappy. Love is the key to happiness in everything and if you have no love, then you have no happiness. Love for money is nothing compared to something two people share together. That's greed and being selfish. I don't think financial statuses are important at all, unless two people really are in love and they're honestly just struggling with money. Other than that, no way.