33 pages • 1 hour read
Lauren OliverBefore I Fall
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Sam
Sam is the main character and narrator. She is a dynamic character in that she changes throughout the course of the story, and it’s her change that drives the story. In the beginning, Sam dies with a final vision of Vicky, a girl she’d helped to bully. But over the course of repeating her death day again and again—some wherein she dies, some wherein others die—Sam learns to find meaning in her life.
This journey is not without occasional missteps. She fights with her friends and family, she breaks as many rules as she can think of, and she tries to save herself by saving someone else all before she discovers that selflessness is the way to give her life meaning. Only by sacrificing herself for others can she make what time she does have result in a positive consequence, instead of a negative one.
Lindsay
Lindsay is Sam’s best friend, and it could be said that she’s the ringleader of the group. Lindsay rarely apologizes for her actions and often behaves in a reckless way that only leads to trouble for herself and others. However, there’s more to Lindsay than meets the eye. Her parents divorced when she was in elementary school, and that’s when she started bullying other children. That’s when she pulled away from being friends with Juliet Sykes, and started treating Juliet like a emotional punching bag. The pain in Lindsay’s past becomes her redemption.
Ally
Ally is one of Sam’s good friends and another popular girl at school. Ally can be sensitive or mean depending on what Lindsay’s doing around her and the situation. For example, when she finds out that Juliet shot herself, Ally is horrified. However, she joined in making fun of Juliet at school. When Lindsay and Sam fight, Ally tries to get Sam to apologize to Lindsay just to make peace.
Elody
Elody is another one of Sam’s good friends. In the beginning of the story, she’s depicted as the most promiscuous of the group, but as the story unfolds, Sam begins to see her first as a victim and then as a gentle soul who just wants her friends to be happy and have an enjoyable time.
Izzy
Sam’s little sister starts out being an annoyance to her, rousing her for school when Sam wants to sleep and getting peanut butter on Sam’s gloves. However, as Sam wakes up to Izzy Cupid Day after Cupid Day, she begins to see her sister’s better qualities, such as her bravery. Izzy isn’t fazed by the opinions of others. Sam finds out that some of the other kids at Izzy’s school make fun of her for what she wears but Izzy isn’t inclined to kowtow to their demands. For this, Sam is proud of her.
Rob
Rob is Sam’s sixth-grade-and-on crush, and now her boyfriend. They’ve been dating for about four months and he wants to have sex with Sam. At the beginning of the story, Sam idolizes Rob and thinks herself in love with him. She learns through each iteration of Cupid Day that he cares less and less for anyone but himself, and so finds him unpleasing to be around.
Kent
Kent and Sam were good friends as children, but when Sam became friends with Lindsay, she stopped hanging out with Kent because Lindsay didn’t like him very much. Kent’s kindness wins Sam over and helps her understand that she doesn’t need others to validate her worth.
Juliet
Juliet plays the part of the catalyst and the sacrificial lamb at first. Lindsay leads the group in making fun of Juliet whenever she’s around, and then Juliet finally works up the courage to confront her former best friend, as well as Elody, Ally, and Sam, and then kills herself—multiple times. Sam initially tries to use Juliet to save herself by trying to keep Juliet from committing suicide, but realizes that the only way saving Juliet will save her is if she sacrifices herself to ensure Juliet lives.
