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Today I got through the audiobook of A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks, and I really enjoyed it as it was a beautiful story and a bit of a tear jerker as I had to hold in the tears towards the end. The ending was written for the reader to interpret on their own as Jamie’s fate isn’t explicitly stated, however Landon does say that after 1959 (when he was 17), he does believe in miracles now. I’m not the biggest fan of books or media that utilize this sort of ending as it feels like a lack of closure. However, this got me thinking about how I interpreted what Landon was saying at the end.
Landon mentions that he still wears his wedding ring and has never felt the need to stop wearing it, before he mentioned that he now believes miracles can happen. Him mentioning the part about his wedding ring seems to imply Jamie has indeed passed away sometime in the 40 years since the events took place, and him emphasizing that he still wears his wedding ring sounded like while she’s not physically around, he’s committed to her in spirit and he hasn’t felt the need to pursue love elsewhere. With the part about him admitting he believes in miracles I’m not sure if that means Jamie got to live a bit longer than expected (the miracle he was hoping for upon learning of her leukemia), or that the miracle was how their relationship changed him for the better and perhaps others around them because of Jamie’s kind heart.
Perhaps the miracle is a mix of her living a little longer than doctors anticipated, and the impact Jamie had on Landon, as he states that she made him the person he is 40 years later. I have a hard time believing that the miracle would be that she was still alive 40 years late, as it was mentioned in the book that because this was the late 1950s, they didn’t have the resources to treat cancer like they did in the 1990s (present day in the book), and her body was resistant to the medications they had available. It also sounded like Landon was at peace with her loss because the memory he had of Jamie is something he’ll never forget, and one of the most impactful relationships he’s had in his life.
For those of you who read it, how do you interpret the ending of A Walk to Remember?
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i think the miracle he refers to was how his life has changed by his relationship with Jamie.
I could see that as he did become more devout in his faith, and started to be a better person. So in turn, their relationship made him more selfless and he started to understand what Jamie meant by “the lord’s plan”.
This post unlocked a memory I had of arguing with friend over the ending in college. I read this book over twenty years ago so I don't recall the details of my argument but, like you mentioned, I think it ends with him saying that he never had the need to take off his wedding ring and that he believes in miracles. Considering the heavy religious theme, the miracle is a miracle in the literal sense and she survived. Her argument was that Jamie died because that's how the movie ends and they wouldn't change the ending of such a popular book because it would piss off the fans.
Nicholas Sparks explained all the differences in the movie from the book like setting it in the 90s so it would appeal more to teens, and not addressing the struggle of being a widowed father in Hegbert’s play as it would make the audience who hadn’t read the book think he’s not a good father. With Jamie’s fate, Sparks said that he wrote the book knowing she would die but he left it ambiguous in the book as he had grown to love her as a character, so he opted for what he describes as "the solution that best described the exact feeling I had with regard to my sister at that point: namely, that I hoped she would live." I believe the movie’s ending shows the fate Sparks had in mind when writing the book, but chose to leave to the reader’s imagination. I’m inclined to believe the miracle is Jamie living longer than expected at least, but definitely not alive in what’s considered present day (1999, when Landon is 57) probably a few extra years but definitely not decades.
I think you're right, it is a mix of both. Landon had been gifted with a whole new perspective, a way of seeing things he never knew before Jamie. I think for him, Jamie was the actual miracle- the fact that she transformed him into a better person, that he got to have her as his wife no matter for how short a duration.