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What would you do if you had to choose between life and death? In the book, If I
Stay by Gayle Forman, seventeen-year-old Mia Hall has to choose whether to die to be with
her family or to live without them. This captivating book takes place during the most
decisive 24 hours of Mia’s life, but it features moments from her past through flashbacks.
Even though If I Stay is young-adult fiction, it teaches readers of all ages about the power of
love, the effects of choices, and the influence of fate.
Aspiring cellist Mia Hall is the protagonist of this breathtaking novel. She has hopes
of attending the Julliard School in the fall, but her dreams are put on hold when a
catastrophic car crash takes the lives of her family and puts her in a coma. Through
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flashbacks, the reader is able to see the strong bond between Mia and her boyfriend, Adam. As a classical music lover, Mia feels like Adam would prefer a girlfriend that is into rock like he is. For example, Mia dresses up as a rocker girl on Halloween to impress Adam. Mia challenges him by asking if he likes her better this way, but Adam responds, “This is the you I like… But the you who you are tonight is the same you I was in love with yesterday, the same you I’ll be in love with tomorrow.” (Forman 100) The couple is put through hard times as their futures take them in different directions, but their love for each other stays strong. From breaking into the ICU to telling her that he would leave, Adam is willing to do anything for Mia to get her to stay. He tells her, “If you stay, I’ll do whatever you want… Stanford 2 maybe it’d be easier for you to erase us. And that would suck, but I’d do it. …I’ll let you go. If you stay.” (Forman 231) Gayle Forman, author of If I Stay, shows readers that “love can make you immortal” (Forman 243) as she puts them on a rollercoaster of love. Throughout life, everyone is faced with choices. Some choices are minor, while others can change our lives forever. Mia is faced with choosing between life and death. Before Mia ultimately chooses, she weighs her options.
She can’t imagine living without her
family, but she knows that they would be disappointed if she chose to die because of them.
As Mia walks around the hospital in an apparitional state, she learns, “If I stay. If I live. It’s
up to me.” (Forman 88) Mia wants to live to see her friends and the other members of her
family, but she knows that her life will be more difficult due to her being injured in the car
crash. Another choice Mia faces in If I Stay is choosing between staying in Oregon with
Adam and going to Julliard in New York. Mia learns from her mother that with some
choices, you win and lose at the same time. Mia’s mother tells her, “I'd understand if you
chose love, Adam love, over music love. Either way you win. And either way you lose.”
(Forman 211) Gayle Forman keeps the reader in suspense as Mia goes through the pros
and cons of life without her family.
Throughout the novel, fate influences Mia and her decisions. Mia’s family died in the
car crash, but miraculously, Mia is put into a coma and given a choice. Mia’s dad sums up
fate perfectly by saying, “I just think funerals are a lot like death itself. You have
your wishes, your plans, but at the end of the day, it’s out of your control.” (Forman 171) Forman uses the strong connection between Mia and Adam to show readers the influence that fate has on people and their decisions. Stanford 3 In conclusion, I would recommend If I Stay to teens of all reading levels. This captivating novel is easy for teens to read and understand. It shares life experiences that teens can easily relate to. Mia knows that her life will be different, but she has to make a decision. Will Mia choose to live or will she choose to die? To read more about Mia’s fascinating story of love, choices, and fate, read If I Stay and its sequel, Where She Went.
While she might think that her plans are working, they only lead her down a path of destruction. She lands in a boarding house, when child services find her, she goes to jail, becomes pregnant by a man who she believed was rich. Also she becomes sentenced to 15 years in prison, over a street fight with a former friend she double crossed. In the end, she is still serving time and was freed by the warden to go to her mother’s funeral. To only discover that her two sisters were adopted by the man she once loved, her sister is with the man who impregnated her, and the younger sister has become just like her. She wants to warn her sister, but she realizes if she is just like her there is no use in giving her advice. She just decides that her sister must figure it out by
While thinking about her mom,” Never, she promised herself. I will never end up like that (86)." After coming back home, Marilyn wanted to become a professional in the medical field in order to avoid becoming a housewife. She was so determined that she was even willing to leave her entire family. Once Marilyn eventually ends up similar to her mother she decides to focus on Lydia’s future from an early age. She focuses so intently, that she overlooked the fact that maybe Lydia didn’t want to become all these things that her mother had imagined. Ng shows her Lydia’s neglect to her parent’s desires when Marilyn found out that, “ It had not been science that Lydia had loved...As if the tears are telescopes, she begins to see more clearly.... Everything that she had wanted for Lydia, which Lydia had never wanted but embraced anyway (247).” Lydia’s parents are filled with guilt as soon as they find about their daughter’s disappearance; they realized that their expectations of Lydia to fulfill their lost dreams had ultimately taken the best of her. Marilyn had just found out that she did not have desires of becoming a doctor because Lydia did want to see the disappointment in their parents. After finding the stethoscope and other articles in Lydia’s room given by her parents, it became evident that Marilyn and James had gone too far. “ A dull chill” (247) crept over Marilyn and this was the first time that she realized that her relentless in having her daughter live out their unfulfilled desires might have been the cause of her death. The lack of communication between Lydia and her parents prevented her from creating a sense of self
must die." God spoke to her and she acted upon the support of a loved one.
she originally planned, getting anxious to finally be free from the horrible city, she stays
The victim is nineteen year old Khadijah Stewart. Stewart had grown up in the south side of Richmond, Virginia (a high crime area) where she met a boy named Tommie. Both were in middle school but Tommie soon got arrested for robberies and gun charges, he was sentenced to life as a juvenile. As time goes on Stewart forms a history of dating bad boys. The main on and off again boyfriend throughout her high school years was a young man named Lionel. In High school Stewart is skipping school to hang out Lionel and his gang members. Afraid how the streets could impact Stewart, the mother moves the family to Chesterfield County, a successful middle class suburbs, to create new life. As her life is changing for the better her heart longs to maintain
she is able to meet her twin sisters that have been missing from her life for over 30 years.
him, she was not strong enough before but now it is she that needs him.
woman as her father died when she was younger and she has no one to
everything and everyone who could have hurt her. One aspect of life and time in
Thousands of cancer patients, or any terminally ill patients, wish for life in the end, nevertheless for Vivian, who states, “It is not my intention to give away the plot; but I think I die at the end” (Edson), she knows that may not happen for her. Wit’s conclusion has a great deal to say of peaceful death and salvation and is connected to that theme of “Salvation Anxiety” since Vivian is not afraid of her cancer, Vivian 's peaceful death, and Jason and Susie 's reaction to Vivian 's death.
...In her death-throes, she lands on her brother, causing him to die of fright. The narrator escapes only to see the entire
who wanted to enter her life, she is left alone after her father’s death. Her attitude
her and her ways. She wasn't strong enough to make the trip by herself, but
Lily has to leave her natal family whom she grew up with to live with her husband who will later make the pain feel worth it.
The book I read was If I Stay by Gayle Forman Mia is a senior in high school her dad is a teacher at and her mother has an office job.She also has a brother who she absolutely adores, his name is Teddy and he is 8 years old.. One morning school was cancelled due to a snow day and her mom decides to stay home because she wanted to spend the day with them also. The family decides to visit friends first then to go to her paternal grandparents house for dinner afterwards. They leave the house and since they all absolutely love music it's a fight about what to listen to. They decide they will take turns listening to their choices. As they're driving down the road they are hit by a truck on an icy road. Mia “wakes up” and can't find her