A Walk To Remember
by Nicholas Sparks
Table of Contents
Jamie
Jamie—Just as Jamie plays the part of the angel in the school play, she also represents the higher and nobler life in the story. Landon, in fact, refers to her as an angel at the end of the tale. She is, for him, a vision of what life is like when one tries to follow “the Lord’s plan.” Her simplicity, lack of guile, purity of heart, dutiful nature, and giving of self seem at first to be characteristics and attributes that make her appear outlandish and unreal. Yet, as Landon learns, they are real characteristics and Jamie is a real person—an ordinary teenager who experiences sorrow, doubt and confusion just like everyone else. Jamie, however, is able to overcome these moments by turning to her Bible and spending time in prayer. She is by no means the oddity that other teens think she is. On the contrary, she is a good soul, one who would do a good turn for anyone in need without even hesitating.
While some things about her initially repulse Landon, there a number of things about her that also attract him. The fact that she always wears her hair in a tight bun on her head, always wears the same brown sweater and plaid skirt, and always carries her Bible are points that turn Landon away from her. When she wears her hair down, however, or shows that she has some wit, or exudes a kind of grace that so few others possess, or goes out of her way to help others (like Angela, who drinks too much at homecoming), Landon cannot help but secretly admire her. What finally wins Landon over is Jamie’s uncompromising devotion to the needy (like the orphans), her indomitable spirit, her lack of pretension, her maternal beauty (when she does choose to show it), and her devotion to him (which he realizes on Christmas Eve, when she gives him her most prized possession).
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