Charlie St. Cloud Analysis

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

“I believe in miracles. Not just the simple wonders of creation, like my new son at home nursing in my wife’s arms, or the majesties of nature, like the sun setting in the sky. I’m talking about real miracles, like turning water into wine or bringing the living back from the dead” (Sherwood 1). Everyone wants to believe in miracles. Especially Charlie St. Cloud, when in a tragic accident he lost his brother. The story Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood contains the death and life of a young man and his forever-lasting bond between him and his brother. Charlie and Sam St. Cloud go through a journey together that most couldn’t create in their deepest imaginations, but Ben Sherwood not only imagined it,
Even from the beginning you can just tell that the two brothers would go out on a limb for one another and not even think twice about it. The two boys were inseparable. Whether it was playing catch out in their yard or watching the Red Sox on TV. There was even that time when “Charlie pulled out two tickets from the pocket of his jeans jacket. Red Sox Tickets” (Sherwood 9). He had got them just for him and Sam. I can connect to the relationship of Charlie and Sam St. Cloud because I also am the youngest sibling of three. Yes, there are times that we don’t get along, but I can also say that if any of us need a friend or need some help with anything, all of us would say some encouraging words or help them out when needed. Now you might be able to see that yes my sisters and I do fight just like Sam and Charlie, but we would also do anything for each other, just like Charlie and
Cloud’s life. Charlie is devastated and blames himself. Charlie was going through a hard time. All he wanted was to see his brother again. After all Charlie had a promise to keep with Sam. That they would play catch everyday after the sunset. With Charlie that was the hardest part of Sam’s death, he was unable to keep his promise, except one miracle happened; Charlie was able to keep his promise even though Sam had crossed over to the next level. The explanation begins a long time ago “other mourners had gone home. As the sunset, Charlie had stayed alone by the grave. And then, Sam had appeared from the woods, his body banged up from the crash, still holding his mitt and ball” (Sherwood 62). Even though Charlie was very much alive and Sam was a spirit; Charlie was given he chance to fulfill the promise he gave to Sam. Which leads me to ask this. How? How is Charlie able to see the ones who have died? The only logical explanation in the book that I could find is, that during the car crash Charlie lost his life. He was dead for at least thirteen minutes until he was shocked back to life. Maybe that is the reason he contains the ability to see