48 pages • 1 hour read
Nicholas SparksThe Choice
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Molly and Moby
Molly and Moby symbolize their respective owner’s personal strengths. Molly, Gabby’s dog, begins the novel in an uncertain state. She is pregnant, and Gabby does not know which neighborhood dog is responsible. This mirrors Gabby’s uncertain emotional state at the beginning of the novel. This event is the novel’s inciting incident as it sets up the meeting between Gabby and Travis. Gabby’s first objective in the novel is to find out what happened to Molly, and this leads her to go over to Travis’s house to confront him during their first meeting.
Moby, Travis’s dog, exemplifies his carefree, playful, athletic qualities. During their first meeting, Moby accidentally knocks Gabby down while he is fetching a frisbee Travis threw to him. This startling encounter symbolizes how meeting Travis emotionally destabilizes Gabby. It also sets her up to be angrier at Travis, which serves a plot function. When it turns out that Moby is not the father of Molly’s puppies, it symbolizes that Travis is not guilty of the bad qualities with which Gabby associates him.
Molly’s puppies cause chaos in Gabby’s life, which is symbolic of the emotional chaos she experiences. Again, this leads her to Travis, as he builds her a pen for the puppies and tends to Molly when she needs emergency medical attention. His profession as a veterinarian symbolizes that he is trustworthy and a healer, someone on whom Gabby can rely for support. Taking care of Molly also foreshadows the role Travis will fill as Gabby’s caregiver later in the novel. In general, the presence of dogs in the story symbolizes loyalty, companionship, and unconditional love.
Travis states to Gabby while she is in the coma that he knew she would be a great mother because of how protective she was of Molly, “like a momma bear protecting her cubs” (238). He knew that her being so upset meant that she cared about Molly deeply. From then on, he knew that Gabby would be a fantastic mother to their children in the future.
Beaufort, North Carolina
The strategic use of setting also influences the story’s ambiance, mood, and thematic elements. The small town of Beaufort, North Carolina, infuses the narrative with a sense of intimacy and community. Travis’s lake house, a tranquil and picturesque locale, becomes a symbolic space where pivotal moments unfold. The seasonal changes, from stormy weather to sunny days, impact or reflect the characters’ moods and the narrative’s trajectory. They mark the passage of time through the early days of the couple’s relationship to the long months of Gabby’s stay at the hospital.
Within Beaufort, Travis’s veterinary clinic, Gabby’s house next door to Travis’s, the beach, and the lake all serve as distinct settings that contribute to character development and emotional depth. As Travis makes his veterinary rounds and encounters various settings like farms and households, a multifaceted portrayal of Beaufort’s dynamics emerges, just as unique, multifaceted aspects of Travis and Gabby unfold throughout the novel. The careful curation of settings not only shapes the unfolding events but also adds layers to the characters’ emotional experiences, making the novel a vivid exploration of love, choices, and the influence of environment on human connections.
The Pigeon
The pigeon Travis sees at the hospital can be seen as a symbol of patience and healing. When Gabby enters the intensive care unit, Travis notices a pigeon that waits outside the window. The pigeon comes at the same time each day, untroubled and watching. When Gabby is moved to her private room, Travis notices this same pigeon at the window ledge and hears its soft cooing. He tries to offer the pigeon breadcrumbs, but the safety features of the hospital windows do not allow him to feed it. Still, the pigeon returns each time Travis does. Travis even notes that the pigeon may be an omen, but in his fuzzy, post-injury state, he cannot make sense of it and disregards the thought.
The pigeon arrives again nine weeks after Gabby is moved into the nursing facility, and at first, Travis can hardly believe it is the same pigeon until he looks at its qualities and knows that the pigeon comes to check on Travis, who checks on Gabby. Exactly six days after the pigeon visited Gabby in the nursing facility, she wakes from her comma. Birds are often symbols of hope, though pigeons usually have negative associations. Seen as common birds, they are sometimes considered a nuisance. But pigeons are also highly intelligent and trainable. The bond Travis develops with this pigeon symbolizes that hope can come from unlikely, everyday sources.
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By Nicholas Sparks
