The Notebook is a romantic novel authored by Nicholas Sparks in 1996. The novel is told in two versions; first, when Noah reads the notebook to a woman by the name Allie. He reads to her how Allie and Noah fall in love young; they are separated for years but then find their way to each other again. The first part is in the past, while the second bit narrates the present where Allie and Noah have lived together and grown old. They lead a happy life until Allie is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Allie loses her memory from time to time, forgetting Noah, but this does not hinder their love. She has promised to come back to him, which she does every time.
In the beginning, Allie and Noah fall in love. Allie is from an influential family, while Noah is just a laborer’s son. Allie’s mother disapproves of their relationship even though she knows her daughter is in love with Noah; she bans her from seeing him. Allie moves away from New Bern with her family to lead her life in Charleston. While away, she is engaged to Lon, who is also from an influential, well-off family. One day Allie reads about Noah from a newspaper and decides to look for him in New Bern. They begin unfolding their memories together and re-ignite their love again. Allie breaks her engagement with Lon and chooses to stay with Noah and build with him. They stick together till the end when Allie gets Alzheimer’s. Their previous promised to always come back to each other is fulfilled when Allie recognizes Noah and starts unbuttoning his shirt; their love rekindles.
This media relates to psychoanalytic theories term development as beyond awareness and somewhat colored heavily by emotions (Santrock 19). The notebook refers to Erikson’s psychosocial development theory. Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development theory, a psychoanalytic theory, emphasizes the encounters and obligations that one presents throughout one’s life as a key to understanding human development (Santrock). According to Erickson, behavior is social and reflects the desire to associate with other people (Santrock). This theory focuses on the genetic and biological origins of behavior while interacting with environmental forces’ direct influence over time. Erik states that natural evolution concerning our socio-cultural settings is done in stages of psychosocial development. Success determines progress through each stage we achieve in all the previous steps. According to Erickson, there are eight developmental stages that humans go through (Santrock). Each stage presents an individual with a crisis or development task. This crisis is linked with demand in our lives at a young age by our parents and society.
In this movie, we can examine how relationships can change over time. The film shows how love changes over a while. The separation they go through due to disapproval by their parents, Allie and Noah distance each other, and Allie move on to an engagement with Lon. The separation and interaction with other people affect her biological behavior, and she gets engaged to someone different from who she was in love with previously. Both Allie and Noah present with psychosocial crises where they demand them not to see each other. Here their lives are dictated for them, and they experience a behavior change.
The first concept is ego integrity vs. despair. When Allie is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Noah upholds integrity instead of despair, where he understands himself and Allie and is satisfied with how they have lived their life together. He does not regret or feel sorry but reads the notebook to her every day even though she has forgotten the story and that it is about them. She is optimistic, though, for she always wishes that they end up together. Even in old age, Noah and Allie characterize as wise people, for they can look back on their lives with completeness and closure and acceptance of death without fear. The second concept is that biological unfolding in an individual’s socio-cultural setting occurs in psychosocial development stages, in this case, intimacy vs. isolation. When Noah and Allie were in the late childhood and early adulthood ages, they form loving and intimate relationships with each other and other people. At this age, they begin exploring relationships that lead towards long-term commitments. They do not isolate themselves; instead, they result in a happy and committed relationship with each other.
The notebook is an accurate depiction of human development because it demonstrates that growth is primarily unconscious. To fully understand the meanings of behavior, one has to understand further how the inner mind works. The novel also shows that previous life experienced with parents shape development greatly. The novel gives a descriptive overview of their social and emotional development and links this development across Noah and Allie’s entire lifespan. Since childhood, we see their lives and how they can develop both emotionally and socially throughout even with their parental experiences molding them to the best selves in their later life. Both characters display optimism and hence balance very well their desperation and their integrity. The love, care, and affection the two have developed for each other over the years endures during their hard times.
Reference
Santrock, John W. “A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development”. 10 edn., McGraw-Hill Education, 2019