The Best of Me

The book that i read was The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks. The character i found most interesting was Amanda Collier. The Collier’s are an upper class family and they all are very proper. In high school, Amanda meets this boy, Dawnson Cole. the Cole’s have a terrible reputation. they are part of the lower class in society, and looked upon as dirty. Eventually, the two end up dating and become inseperateable until their senior year. the reason Amanda is my favorite character is because despite what everyone said, she still went with what her heart told her to do. she went against her friends, her parents, and society during that time by being with a Cole when she was born into a more classy family. she caused many hardships ( especially in her household ) from sneaking out to lying that took a major toal on her and her father’s relationship, but in the moment she did what she felt was right for her. eventually after senior year, they split up and moved on, but are brought back together after many years apart. her development of character is shown when she reflects on her high school days. she tells us how she now understands ( being a mother ) how her own mother felt and how she would feel if her child did that. but, she also brings in that she would let her children love whoever they felt, because it really hurt her to leave Dawson. this character development helps to story in my opinion because it shows how she goes from a “dumb” high school girl whos in love to an adult who now understands why what she did was wrong, but still justifies the reason for doing so. in her high school moments, Amanda can be seen as being reckless, immature, and not thinking before she acts but by the end of the novel she can be seen as an optimistic person, and she becomes more aware of the situations around her before making a decision.