Who Is The Castle In Me Before You

Imagine a life of contentment where everyday is the same routine. Now imagine a life as a six-month caregiver for a thirty-five year old man. Will these six months be worthwhile? The novel, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes has a total of 409 pages. In the novel, the main character, Louisa Clark, lives an extremely ordinary life. Her former work place, Buttered Buns, closes down leaving Lou desperately searching for a new job at the Job Center. There, she gains the role of a caregiver for Will Traynor, a thirty-five year old man who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Lou’s highly awkward first encounter with Will helps Louisa realize that Will is acerbic, moody, and remarkably bossy. When Lou discovers Will is planning on ending his

Will’s family is not the most loving family around. His mother and father is always working and is never home. “Will had escaped into the empty grounds of the castle his whole childhood” (Moyes 267). The castle is Will’s favorite place to be and loves exploring in it when it is dark outside. When Will is in the castle, he is able to forget about his workaholic parents and instead pretend to be a prince or knight. The castle plays an important role in the plot because it is the place where Will and Lou open up to each other. “I’ll tell you something that I never tell anyone” (Moyes 274). Will ultimately tells Lou that he is scared. Scared of life and scared of how everyday is an opportunity to get worse. The castle consequently helps Lou and Will’s relationship by helping them bond together and understand each other better. Another object that has great significance for Will is his

Will leads a big life before his motorbike accident. He goes, sees, and does things that no one else has ever done before. When Lou and Will go on their vacation in the Mauritius Island, Lou confronts him. “You don’t have to let that… that chair define you” (Moyes 361). Everything is centered on Will’s wheelchair. The events planned for him, how he gets to different places, and basically his life in general. Lou desperately talks to Will saying he can start over and live a life with her in it. Will stubbornly refuses knowing that living a life in a wheelchair will only cause him pain and misery. “I need to end it here. No more chair. No more pneumonia. No more burning limbs. No more pain and tiredness and waking up every morning already wishing it was over” (Moyes 362). Truthfully, his wheelchair is what defines him and he will never accept it. While the chair does play a key role in Will’s life alone, it also plays a part in the novel overall. Believe it or not, the wheelchair helps bring together two people with nothing in common. Both Lou and Will’s life drastically changes because of a chair. They meet solely because of Will’s accident, leaving him as a quadriplegic and confining him in a wheelchair making him vulnerable. Without the help of the wheelchair, it causes both Will and Lou to live their usual life, never crossing paths and never getting to experience six months