43 pages • 1 hour read
Nicholas SparksThe Longest Ride
Nicholas SparksFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Discuss the relationship between love and sacrifice. Do characters in the novel give up vital parts of themselves for their relationships? How is this loss positive? Negative?
Why does the novel juxtapose two stories of two couples who do not know each other? What is gained by the contrapuntal structure?
Ira, Luke, and Sophia each get point-of-view chapters to share their stories. Why does Ruth not get her own chapters?
Explore the novel’s use of magic and the supernatural. Why does the novel avoid religion, but not spirituality?
Apart from Luke’s showdown ride of his archnemesis Big Ugly Critter, how else does the novel use the metaphor of the longest ride?
How does the novel use art? Does it make sense to juxtapose Daniel portrait of Ruth with works by great artists? Why or why not?
Research tropes in romance novel structure. How does this novel rely on specific elements of this genre like love at first sight, the importance of the first kiss, the idea that love is the solution to most problems, happily ever after, etc.?
The novel uses pivotal historical moments as background: Ira and Ruth live through WWII, the rise of Nazism, and the free-spirited energy of the 1960s; while Luke and Sophia face the high-tech new millennium. How does the novel use history?
Research the figure of the cowboy in American folk tradition. How does Luke both demonstrate and revisit that iconic figure? Is Ira a cowboy? Why or why not?
Discuss the novel’s use of coincidence as a plot device. How does it tie into the novel’s insistence on a sapient universe?
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By Nicholas Sparks
