Sarah Clementson- A Walk to Remember- Choice #4

Jamie Sullivan seems so strong in her faith and confident in herself with her cardigan, Bible and the small town preacher as her father. Yet the film shows how she, even with her goals, has human limitations due to the leukemia relapse. Jamie was able to accomplish many of her goals because of Landon’s love for her. She had revealed to him her list of goals but withheld the most important one until she knew she could trust him. I think it was symbolic that she did not want to tell him that her number one goal was to be married. Jamie lived a life unsullied by many of the normal high school influences. She had a pure and innocent appearance, way of talking and manner that was distinct from other students. In this, I think that Landon saw something extremely attractive and desired to have the peace that she had. But when he finds out that she is in fact, dying, Landon will not stop at anything, even at the mockery of his closest friends, to give her what she seeks.
Certain symbols that I have noted were the book of quotes from her mom, the stars/telescope and the graveyard are all important to the film. Before this class I would never have paid much attention to these different things, but as I thought about what I wanted to write about this film kept coming to mind. The book from her mom I think in some ways was just an emotional connection, but it was almost like Jamie knew that she would not live as long as those that had written and she wanted to glean as much wisdom from them. Also, she was in love with the stars and I wonder if that is because she knew her time here on the earth was short. The telescope that Landon built her was almost him reaching up to grab her heart before she shot off into the heavens. The grave yard was a more interesting perspective because I think it showed that although Jamie did not want to die, that she was not scared of death because she had the assurance of knowing where she was going.
I can relate this film to class and myself all day long on many different realms but I think that the symbolism was strong enough to speak for itself and it was almost like Jamie’s persistent innocence would not let her live in the world for very long.