In the book If I Stay Gayle Foreman uses the theme of hope and many symbols to give the reader a better understanding and outlook of the novel. The story is about a teenaged girl who has a pretty “normal” life. The novel tells the story of her and her family. However the climax of the story is a tragic accident that leaves her mom, dad, and brother dead and her lying unconscious in a hospital bed. This novel is about choices, hope, and surviving.
The theme of choices is portrayed throughout the novel. The main character has the choice of who to be with relationship wise. She has the choice to be with someone who is the complete opposite of her. She likes soft orchestral music and he is a guitar player in a rock band. The main character also has the choice of what school to go to…show more content… The main character herself as well as the readers hold on to the hope that she will stay and be with the rest of her family no matter how hard it may be to do without the family she lost in the accident. Some readers may have even held on to the hope that the main character would pass on so she wouldn’t have to go through the pain of losing them all over again when she wakes up from the coma. As a reader you want everything to work out in the end and everything will be okay as well as everyone but in many cases your wants are not always met. Out of all the themes and symbols in this book hope is the main one. Every one of the characters has a sense of hope for something in the novel. The main character’s boyfriend hope that she chooses to stay and be with him and all of her other loved ones. Her friends and the rest of her family hope she stays with them as well. The main character herself hopes that everything is just a dream and that the reality she is facing isn’t real. The reality she faces seems to be too much for her to bear. This is where hope comes in; the main character is practically saved by the hope that everything will be