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Symbols
Throughout The Notebook, writing—particularly poetry and letters—symbolizes memory’s power to enrich, enliven, and transform one’s life in times of pain and sadness. At the start of the novel, writing and poetry are most important to Noah: in spite of his working-class background and lack of higher education, he’s well-versed in Transcendentalist poetry that he learned from his now-deceased father, who taught Noah to read and recite poetry in order to help him overcome a childhood stutter. As an adult, Noah lives alone in a house he has renovated top-to-bottom in order to distract himself from the trauma of World War II and the pain of missing his first love, Allie. He uses poetry to calm himself and to remind himself of his childhood—in this way, poetry symbolizes the simplicity and tranquility of the past.
Writing is also an important symbol of the past within Noah and Allie’s relationship. After their short-lived relationship in the summer of 1932, Allie’s mother, Anne, hides the letters Noah writes to Allie over the years—but Anne eventually gets them back, and Allie reads them. Through Noah’s letters, Allie allows herself unfettered access to the memories of the true, pure love that she and Noah shared during their summer together. She at last allows herself to see that what she and Noah shared wasn’t merely “puppy love”—theirs was a true, enduring passion, and she decides that she cannot live a life in which she’s constantly looking back on her memories in sorrow rather than in joy. Thus, the letters represent the power of memory to transform one’s life even years after an event or a relationship is over.
Much later in life, after Noah and Allie reunite and share a life together, the elderly couple lives in a nursing home. Allie suffers from severe Alzheimer’s disease, so Noah is left to carry their shared memories for the both of them. As Noah looks over old mementos each day, Sparks makes clear how important letter-writing, poetry, storytelling, and written love notes are as tools which allow Noah—and on occasion even Allie—to retreat into the balm of memory and escape the pain of the present. The notebook Noah reads to Allie each day contains their love story—and some days, Allie is able to remember everything, allowing the two of them fleeting moments of joy, happiness, and shared joy in their memories. Between the notebook, the old letters they wrote to each other, and the poem fragments Noah leaves under Allie’s pillows and in her coat pockets, it becomes clear that both Noah and Allie, even in old age, find peace and calm through the memories that the written word allows them to access.
Writing Quotes in The Notebook
The The Notebook quotes below all refer to the symbol of Writing. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 6
Quotes
"Poets often describe love as an emotion that we can't control, one that overwhelms logic and common sense. That's what it was like for me. I didn't plan on falling in love with you, and I doubt if you planned on falling in love with me. But once we met, it was clear that neither of us could control what was happening to us. We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created.”
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Chapter 7
Quotes
The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected. Maybe they always have been and will be. Maybe we've lived a thousand lives before this one and in each of them we've found each other. And maybe each time, we've been forced apart for the same reasons. That means that this goodbye is both a goodbye for the past ten thousand years and a prelude to what will come.
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Chapter 9
Quotes
'What are you going to do?" her mother asked, pulling back. There was a long pause.
"I don't know," Allie finally answered. They stood together for another minute, just holding each other. […]
On her way out the door, Allie thought that she heard her mother whisper, "Follow your heart," but she couldn't be sure.
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Chapter 11
Quotes
You and I were different. We came from different worlds, and yet you were the one who taught me the value of love. You showed me what it was like to care for another and I am a better man because of it. I don’t want you to ever forget that.
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Chapter 12
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"I've heard it before, haven't I?"
"Yes," I say again, just as I do every time on days like these. I have learned to be patient.
She studies my face. Her eyes are as green as ocean waves.
"It makes me feel less afraid," she says.
"I know." I nod, rocking my head softly.
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This is why Allie is considered a miracle, because sometimes, just sometimes, after I read to her, her condition isn't so bad. There is no explanation for this.
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Get the entire The Notebook LitChart as a printable PDF.
Writing Symbol Timeline in The Notebook
The timeline below shows where the symbol Writing appears in The Notebook. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Miracles
...puts on his glasses, takes a magnifying lens out of his pocket, opens up a notebook, and begins to read aloud from it. Every time he repeats these gestures, he wonders...
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Chapter 2: Ghosts
...well-worn copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and sits back down to read some poems. Whitman’s musings on nature, solitude, and mortality soothe him.
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...life, thinking back to his childhood. He recalls how his father taught him to read poetry in order to help with a childhood stutter. He thinks back to the canoeing and...
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...though Noah promised her their bond would never be broken—she never answered any of the letters he sent her after she left New Bern.
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...who had a soft spot for Noah. Over the course of the year, Noah continued writing to Allie—but after months and months and months of silence, Noah stopped sending the letters....
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...shopping at the general store and returns home, where he sits on the porch and reads poetry as dusk falls.
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Chapter 3: Reunion
...As Noah watches Allie walk along the bank, he thinks she looks like a “living poem.”
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Noah asks Allie why she never answered his letters. Allie appears confused—she says she never got any letters from Noah. Noah and Allie realize...
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...he feels too afraid to be honest with her. Allie asks Noah to read some poems to her. He begins reciting some verses from memory, and Allie feels soothed as she...
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Chapter 6: Moving Water
...explain that he could not pick one moment over another. Noah tells Allie that the poets describe love as an uncontrollable, overpowering force—and that is what he felt when falling in...
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Chapter 7: Swans and Storms
Allie tells Noah that she became sad when she never got any letters from him. She reveals that she came to New Bern to ask about him—but he...
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Chapter 9: An Unexpected Visitor
Anne reaches into her purse and retrieves a bundle of letters tied together with string—they are the letters Noah wrote to Allie. Anne has saved them...
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Chapter 11: A Letter from Yesterday
...almost ready to go inside—but before doing so, she decides to open one of the letters from Noah. She reaches into her purse for the yellowed packet of letter and pulls...
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Chapter 12: Winter for Two
The story ended, the elderly Noah closes his notebook and removes his glasses from his tired eyes. He looks at the woman sitting across...
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Noah reads to his companion each and every morning without fail—it is something he must do for...
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...his life will be over—his pain grows every day while his capacity for thinking and writing decreases. He still loves poetry and often reads to his friends in the nursing home....
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...because her needs have always been spiritual. He recites a portion of a Walt Whitman poem: “Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost,” the poem begins. When Noah finishes,...
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...made arrangements to enter the nursing home, rewrote her will, composed burial instructions, and wrote letters to her friends, her children, her neighbors, and, of course, to Noah. When Noah reads...
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Several nights ago, as Noah found himself sifting through these letters, he began reading the last letter he wrote to Allie. The letter, written outside on...
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...says that she found it beneath her pillow. She holds it out to Noah, who reads it: it is a poem about “awaken[ing] love.” Allie produces another—this one, she says, she...
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...setbacks Alzheimer’s has brought, however, Noah insists that Allie is a “miracle.” Sometimes, after Noah reads the notebook to Allie, her condition improves—and sometimes she even comes back to herself and...
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...display, she turns to her companion and says she knows how the story in the notebook ended. Allie, she says, went with Noah. Noah confirms that she did. He helps Allie...
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...through to Allie, Noah wakes up one morning to look at some old photographs and letters. He finds he cannot concentrate very well—he has a bad headache. He closes his eyes...
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...stands up and effortfully goes over to his desk, where he looks through old pictures, letters, and a bouquet of dried flowers he gave to Allie long ago. He remembers being...
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It is nearly midnight when Noah sits down with the last letter Allie wrote to him before her mind began to go. The lengthy letter describes the...
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At the end of the letter, Allie writes that while Noah might think she’s “crazy” for writing down their entire love...
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Noah puts the letter aside and goes out to the hall. He sees that the night nurse, Janice, is...
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...Allie’s still, quiet room. He sits on the edge of her bed and slips a poem beneath her pillow. Unable to help himself, he reaches out and touches her face. Allie...
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