before i fallby Lauren Oliver

splinter, sykes, samantha, suicide, suv

before i fall is a story about love and death. I chose a blurry background to illustrate the passage from life to death, with a picture of a heart and a tombstone, reinforcing this concept. Also, the key symbolizes Samantha’s journey to unlocking her true self: by reliving the same day again and again, she gets a second chance (and a third, and a fourth, and so on). Finally, I added a few words on the cover that I strongly associate with this book.

When word goes around that there’s a Valentines Day party at Kent McFuller’s house, of course only the cool kids are invited, including Samantha and her three best friends. However, when Juliet Sykes, nicknamed Psycho, dares to show up and insult the four friends, a catfight erupts. Outnumbered and humiliated, Juliet escapes. This event sets off a chain reaction, leading to Juliet killing herself by jumping in front of Samantha’s friend’s car. Lindsay, who was behind the wheel, loses control, crashes into a tree, and Samantha is instantly killed.

This Valentine is a symbol of Cupid Day, which is the day the events of the book take place.

The next day, to her disbelief, Samantha wakes up to another Cupid Day, her last day alive. But this time, she discovers she can change little things. For example, she knows the school parking lot is full except for one spot. By making Lindsay late, she lets another student not be late, and get that spot. By not being late, that student was able to be at her swim meet. By being at her swim meet, she was not kicked off the team. Samantha realizes that the smallest of actions can lead to big consequences.

The alarm clock represents time; by making Lindsay late, Samantha changed the events of the day.

By the time Samantha wakes up for her third Cupid Day in a row, she doesn’t think she can live through the party and the crash again. She begs her friends to just stay home that night and watch a movie instead, hence the comfy couch and TV in the picture. They agree but then, late at night, they get the news that Juliet Sykes has killed herself with a gun, leaving Samantha at a loss.

Juliet killed herself with a gun, even though Samantha stayed home from the party.

On the fourth day, Samantha gets really, really angry at the Universe for making her go through all this again. She decides to do whatever she wants because it won’t matter tomorrow anyways. She yells at her best friend, kisses a teacher, and smokes with another student in the bathroom. Then she goes off and spends extraordinary amounts of money on outfits for the party, which doesn’t go well, and Samantha dies in the car crash again.

The credit cards represent Samantha’s recklessness and total rebellion.

The fifth day, Samantha feels peaceful: since she’s done everything she wanted to do “yesterday”, she has no regrets. She decides not to go to school, under the excuse that her and her boyfriend have broken up. Her little sister, Izzy, also begs to stay home. While their mother is gone, Samantha finally bonds with her little sister and shows her Goose Point, the cliff where Samantha had tried to run away as a little girl. But still, after going to the party and opting to walk home, Juliet throws herself in front of Lindsay’s car, killing herself and Elody, another friend of Samantha’s.

When Samantha stays home, she makes an imaginary “To Do” list of things she wants to do before she dies.

On what turns out to be her last time reliving Cupid Day, Samantha deepens her relationships as much as she can by giving her sister her grandmother’s necklace and actually talking to Kent McFuller instead of just ignoring him. She also lets go of a few things as well, by breaking up with her boyfriend and standing up to the teacher she kissed on day 4. And at the end of the day, Samantha realizes what she needs to do to break the cycle. What it is…well, you’ll have to read the book to find out.

The necklace represents Samantha’s final parting gift to her sister.

Made by Delphine Mossman Period 2 English

Hope you liked it!