Before I Fall Literary Notes by Lauren Oliver
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver [Notes]
Conflicts:
* Sam and her friends vs. Juliet * Sam vs. Death (External Conflict)
Themes:
* Choice * Samantha relives Friday, February 12th seven times. Each day, she makes different choices to try and change the outcome of the day. The third time Sam wakes up on the same day, she chooses to be a complete rebel. She gets to school late, skips most of her classes, seduces her teacher, and smokes marijuana. The days following, Sam tries to be a better person.
* The good choices she makes is on the last day (I have no idea how she knew it was her last day), but she told her mom and dad that she loved them (since she didn't even say goodbye to them at all at first) as well as her sister.
* She stops the pushing and vodka throwing over Juliet Skyes.
* She goes to Juliet's house to try and make things better.
* SHE DITCHES ROB! Left him naked at Kent's party, where he was humiliated and laughed at in front of his friends. Rob NEVER loved Sam, even looked away when they were kissing, and I don't think she ever loved him - it was all a game, popularity, social status game to them both.
* She makes the choice of ratting out Lindsey -- you know, when she finds the yearbook of Juliet and Lindsey and how Juliet NEVER wet herself inside the tent, it was Lindsey all along. They used to be best friends.
* Her choice to stand up to her false friends, mostly to Lindsey, so much that Lindsey stopped the car and ordered Sam out of it.
* To be honest, she breaks out of her bubble. It was a good bubble, a fun one, and definitely had a lot of perks, but there were so many lies that were kept hidden to get almost everything they wanted.
Plot:
* The plot is immensely complex yet so simplistic at the same time: Sam dies but, it seems, she hasn't really died and has the chance to re-live her last day seven times. The book is broken up into sections for each of the replayed
Conflicts:
* Sam and her friends vs. Juliet * Sam vs. Death (External Conflict)
Themes:
* Choice * Samantha relives Friday, February 12th seven times. Each day, she makes different choices to try and change the outcome of the day. The third time Sam wakes up on the same day, she chooses to be a complete rebel. She gets to school late, skips most of her classes, seduces her teacher, and smokes marijuana. The days following, Sam tries to be a better person.
* The good choices she makes is on the last day (I have no idea how she knew it was her last day), but she told her mom and dad that she loved them (since she didn't even say goodbye to them at all at first) as well as her sister.
* She stops the pushing and vodka throwing over Juliet Skyes.
* She goes to Juliet's house to try and make things better.
* SHE DITCHES ROB! Left him naked at Kent's party, where he was humiliated and laughed at in front of his friends. Rob NEVER loved Sam, even looked away when they were kissing, and I don't think she ever loved him - it was all a game, popularity, social status game to them both.
* She makes the choice of ratting out Lindsey -- you know, when she finds the yearbook of Juliet and Lindsey and how Juliet NEVER wet herself inside the tent, it was Lindsey all along. They used to be best friends.
* Her choice to stand up to her false friends, mostly to Lindsey, so much that Lindsey stopped the car and ordered Sam out of it.
* To be honest, she breaks out of her bubble. It was a good bubble, a fun one, and definitely had a lot of perks, but there were so many lies that were kept hidden to get almost everything they wanted.
Plot:
* The plot is immensely complex yet so simplistic at the same time: Sam dies but, it seems, she hasn't really died and has the chance to re-live her last day seven times. The book is broken up into sections for each of the replayed