Olivia's Reading Response

Final!

In my book The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks, Ronnie, a teenage girl and her brother, Jonah are sent to be with their dad for the summer. Ronnie and her dad haven't talked ever since her parent’s split, her dad left with out saying anything. From that point on, Ronnie had turned into a new girl. Here Nicholas Sparks tries to show the reader that Ronnie isn’t really who she thinks she is, and she doesn’t do anything her friends do. Ronnie turns into a girl that is "bad.” She has bad grades, they dropped juristically, she has a purple streak in her hair, and hangs out with the wrong type of people.  To me, though Ronnie isn't really "bad;” she is just hiding herself from the rest of the world, with all her makeup and dark clothes. Ronnie isn't actually one of those kids who drink or smoke or do terrible things it’s just that, that’s the only way she can express herself.

One important observation that I made as soon as I started reading this book, is that you could tell Ronnie only hangs out with the wrong crowd, wears a lot of makeup and wears dark clothes because she is trying to hide herself and it is the only way she can express her anger. Ronnie is actually a smart girl that doesn’t do anything that the people she hangs out with do. I think this because,

          "”Do you want me to bring you a beer?” “I don’t drink.” “Why?” Because it makes people act stupid, she could have said but she didn’t. “ (103).

This quote shows that Ronnie doesn’t drink, and she thinks drinking is stupid. This is a very important part of the book because there are parts way before this one that just shows Ronnie not drinking but this time you actually know she doesn’t drink. So once I was reading this I kind of thought to myself, isn’t this weird how every night she hangs out with these type of people but she never drinks or smokes with them, she is really above the influence. I mean these are her best friends and whom she hangs out with every night.

Another important observation is that even her dad is wondering if she will change by the end of the summer, or if she will have the same attitude she did when she first arrived then to when she is going to leave. I think this because in the book Steve says:

"Would she wake up tomorrow or leave with the same attitude she had arriving here? He did not know" (122). Well to me since I’ve seen the movie and I know what happens, this quote is fore shadowing what will happen later in the book. It shows that even the dad does believe in Ronni to change and even though he doesn’t know if Ronni will change there still is the thought that she might. Steve believes and loves Ronni even though she can be cruel to him because he knows deep down that she is just going through a tough time in her life.

This text related to the world because there are many people who aren't completely sure what they want to be, or who they are. They think their someone they're not and try to fit into the group. In some way it kind of relates to clique because you could want to be in a group but it's not who you really are you just want to be popular or in Ronnie's case hide yourself and hang out with people you’re really not.

This relates to me in the sense of clique, but not in the sense of Ronnie. Sometimes I compare myself to other people because they're more popular, have more friends, are prettier, or just they have something I want. So sometimes I could go out of my way to try to talk to them or something and I just realize I'm happy who I am and what I have and I'm me because I was supposed to be.

I think when people read this they should know that Ronnie does really change and the whole beginning of the book of her not smoking or drinking foreshadows her becoming some one she really is, and finding out who she is and what she wants. Her relationship with her dad grows into something more and she realizes that nothing with their break up had to do with her, and that she needs to be happy in her situation now.