47 pages • 1 hour read
Nicholas SparksThe Best of Me
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
In the summer of 2009, Dawson Cole, 42, works on an oil rig off the coast of New Orleans. He is nearly killed when an explosion tosses him into the ocean, leaving him floating and drifting with no help in sight. A dark-haired man miraculously waves to him from a distance and directs him to a life preserver. After reaching the life preserver, Dawson is picked up by a supply ship. He again spots the mysterious dark-haired man in the ship and feels uneasy, wondering how he got there. After the accident, Dawson’s company offers him a large sum of money as a settlement, most of which Dawson transfers to a secret account. Though he is physically okay, since the accident, Dawson feels like he is being watched. He is also worried about the hallucinations he has been experiencing.
Dawson lives in an old, dilapidated single-wide trailer on the outskirts of New Orleans. It is not very homey, but he keeps it meticulously clean. He does not have a social life, and his only social contact is a rare letter to Tuck Hostetler, his only friend back in his hometown, Oriental, North Carolina. One afternoon, Dawson receives a call informing him of Tuck’s death, and he prepares to go to Oriental for the funeral; it will be his first time back in his hometown in nearly 20 years. He again senses a flash of movement in the distance and wonders if his mind is all right. Tuck’s attorney, Morgan Tanner, needs Dawson to complete some post-death arrangements, and on Thursday, June 18, 2009, Dawson drives his 1969 Fastback to the airport and boards a flight to Oriental.
On the flight, he reminisces about his past in Oriental. He was born into the Cole family, who were notorious in the town for their crimes and violence. His mother ran away when he was only three, leaving him to grow up with his abusive father. Dawson was different from the rest of his family; he was a good student and stayed away from crime. But his family sensed his difference and resented him for it. His cousins, Abee and Crazy Ted, regularly bullied him. As a child, Dawson started to weight train and build his strength to defend himself against his father’s beatings. One night after he turned 16, he threatened to kill his father if he beat him again.
After that incident, Dawson left home and took refuge in Tuck’s garage. Tuck employed him to repair cars, and Dawson began living there fulltime. To keep himself busy, Dawson bought a 1969 Fastback from a junkyard and started repairing it. But even after Dawson moved out, his father regularly came to the garage with Abee and Ted to extract money from him. As a result, Tuck became more protective of Dawson and treated him like a son.
Dawson’s life changed when he met Amanda Colliers. Amanda was Dawson’s lab partner in high school, and by the summer of 1984, 17-year-old Dawson realized he was in love with Amanda. They spent long hours together in Tuck’s garage, with Amanda sitting on the workbench, watching Dawson work on the cars. They argued often but always made up quickly. Amanda’s wealthy family did not approve of the relationship, and Amanda had to sneak out of her house to visit Dawson at the garage at night. Sitting on the branch of an oak tree by the creek behind Tuck’s house, Amanda would vent her frustrations about her parents to Dawson, and on one such night, they made love.
Dawson continues reminiscing as he changes planes in Charlotte, North Carolina. After Amanda turned 18 the next summer, her parents threatened not to pay for her college if she continued her relationship with Dawson. Amanda was shocked, but Dawson firmly asked her to break up with him and choose college. Amanda reluctantly left Dawson and entered Duke University; a month after that, Dawson was arrested and imprisoned for the next four years.
Chapter 2 Summary
Amanda, now in her 40s, reaches Tuck’s house and reminisces about her life so far. Her two older children, Jared and Lynn, are in college and high school, respectively. Her youngest, Annette, is at summer camp. She and her husband, Frank have a tense, conflict-filled relationship. Amanda met Frank in college, and soon after college, in July 1989, they got married. Frank started a successful dentistry practice in Durham, but after the death of their third child, Bea, he became an alcoholic. Amanda became a volunteer at the Pediatric Cancer Centre to distract herself from the grief of losing Bea. Frank’s drinking problem has created a rift in their marriage, and Amanda wonders how he will take care of his children if they fall sick when he is drunk. She wonders whether it is ethical to end her marriage and realizes she still loves the person Frank used to be.
Amanda enters Tuck’s garage and looks back on how she reconnected with Tuck, six years ago. After hearing rumors that Tuck had gone crazy and started seeing his long-dead wife’s ghost, Amanda decided to visit Tuck. She was touched by his attachment to his wife, and she began regularly visiting Tuck and cooking for him.
During the visits, Tuck told her about his wife, Clara, who had passed away three decades ago. They had married at 17, and he had built her a cottage near Bay River in Vandemere. Clara had found it beautiful, and they used to spend a few weeks there every year. Amada believed that Tuck and Clara were content with what they had and eventually, she began sharing her problems with Tuck. She remembers that when she last visited Tuck, he had behaved strangely: He had given her a key to his house, and told her that there was red wine in the cabinet and steak in the refrigerator.
Amanda is aware that she reconnected with Tuck because of Dawson. Tuck’s garage reminds her of her high school love affair with Dawson, and she wonders how her life would have changed if she had married her true love. Back then, Dawson was the only person who really understood her, and she wonders what his current life is like.
Chapter 3 Summary
Dawson lands in New Bern and drives down to Oriental. While driving, he notices that his county has not changed at all. Dawson recalls how on the night of September 18, 1985, he lost control of a truck he was driving and hit and killed Dr. David Bonner. Dr. Bonner was a doctor who had moved into the town a few months earlier and was married to Marilyn Bonner, a member of a prominent family in Oriental. Dawson was arrested and sentenced to four years of imprisonment for involuntary manslaughter. After four years, he was released on parole and went back to Tuck’s garage to work. Wracked with guilt, he regularly visited Dr. Bonner’s grave. When his father reappeared with Ted to collect money from Dawson, he fought them, injuring Ted. When his parole ended, he left the town in his 1969 Fastback, never to return. In Charlotte, he learned welding at the local community college and eventually found a job on the oil rig in New Orleans. While driving, Dawson notices that an ugly building has been built at the curve where the accident took place over two decades ago.
Dawson stops at the marina in Oriental. He is unable to forgive himself for the past accident and wonders how others get over their pasts. Suddenly, he spots the dark-haired stranger from his oil-rig accident in the distance. This leaves him restless, and he decides to visit Tuck’s house on the outskirts of Oriental. The sight of Tuck’s place evokes old memories, and as he reaches the garage, he sees Amanda and immediately understands why Tuck wanted him there.
Chapter 4 Summary
Amanda and Dawson exchange greetings and do some cursory catching up on each other’s lives. Amanda tells him about her family, and Dawson tells her about his work on the rig. They realize that Tuck had set them up to meet and discuss their appointment with the attorney the next day. Dawson examines a classic Corvette Stingray that Tuck was working on and observes that it is not the usual restoration work that Tuck undertakes.
Amanda and Dawson find themselves attracted to each other again, just like they were in high school. Amanda consciously attempts to maintain some distance between them and suggests that they have dinner—wine and steak—at Tuck’s place before leaving.
Chapter 5 Summary
During their dinner in Tuck’s backyard, Amanda and Dawson talk about their lives. Amanda is shocked to learn that Dawson never dated after their breakup. She is angry and asks whether it was because of her. Dawson replies that it is because of his solitary life on the rig; however, Amanda is not convinced. She asks him about the night of the truck accident and realizes that Dawson was given a harsher sentence because of his family’s criminal reputation. Dawson regrets the accident and says that Dr. Bonner’s wife never remarried. He feels guilty for destroying Dr. Bonner’s family. Soon, they slip into their old ways of talking freely with each other. Amanda talks more about her college days and her children, and they feel connected to each other again.
After dinner, they venture to the oak tree by the creek, and Amanda says she is afraid to go there without Dawson’s company. She expresses regret at not having written to Dawson while he was in prison, and Dawson responds that it did not matter since he would not have been able to give her the life she wanted. Amanda hints that she is not really happy with her present life but does not talk more about it. At the same time, she knows that it is only a matter of time before she opens up to Dawson.
After Amanda leaves, Dawson sits alone in the garage and is convinced that Amanda has moved on with her life, while he has remained in the past and will never be able to get over her.
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
The first chapters establish the romance between Dawson and Amanda and the present dynamics of their relationship when they meet after two decades to fulfill Tuck’s wishes. The opening chapters also introduce the major characters in the novel, including Dawson’s cousins Abee and Ted. The fraught relationship between Dawson and the rest of Cole family is explained in detail, as it is significant to the plot of the story.
The major themes of Guilt and Redemption and The Power of True Love are introduced in these chapters. Guilt has shaped Dawson’s life since he left Oriental. His work on the oil rig is rough and dangerous, but he accepts the risk, even after being in a near-fatal accident. He is barely invested in his present life and leads a hermetic existence with no social life, relationships, or interests. He lives in the memory of his romance with Amanda, choosing not to get into a relationship with any woman. Most of all, he lives with the guilt of having killed Dr. Bonner. Dawson is stuck in his memories of love and regret and cannot move forward with his life until he reckons with his past. Similarly, Amanda is troubled by the choices she has made since leaving for college. Her marriage is unhappy and her separation from Dawson leaves her feeling cut off from her true self.
The theme of Imperfect Parent–Child Relationships is introduced in a number of situations: Tommy Cole’s abusive behavior towards Dawson, young Amanda’s intense arguments with her mother, and Amanda’s frustration at her mother’s disapproval of her friendship with Tuck.
The novel’s chapters are divided into sections, each section featuring the point of view of a particular character or an important plot event. This structure helps Nicholas Sparks build suspense and move between actions that occur simultaneously in different locations. The first chapter is narrated from Dawson’s point of view of and establishes his love for Amanda and his inability to move on with his life. The second chapter is told from Amanda’s perspective and communicates her anxieties with the life choices she has made. These chapters sow the seed for the later plot developments, which are heavily dependent on Amanda’s indecision. The third chapter returns to Dawson’s point of view, providing more details about the accident and his guilt. The fourth and fifth chapters alternate between the perspectives of Amanda and Dawson, showing the rekindling of their romance. Sparks uses dramatic irony here, as readers know what each character is thinking while the characters do not yet divulge their feelings to each other. While both Dawson and Amanda feel themselves falling back in love, Amanda experiences more conflict because she is married. This will be a source of tension throughout the novel.
The use of alternating past and present timelines is another significant narrative tactic used in the opening chapters: The heavy use of flashbacks enables the author to fill in the background details of Dawson and Amanda’s lives while moving the present action forward. This technique is most evident in the first and third chapters. The narration of Dawson leaving his trailer in New Orleans, travelling to New Bern, and then driving down to Oriental is interspersed with long reminiscences that provide details about his family background, car accident, incarceration, and love story with Amanda. Similarly, Amanda arrives at Tuck’s place and slips into long flashbacks about her marriage and family life.
Other narrative elements link Dawson to the past: Dawson’s drive from New Orleans to Oriental is symbolic of his interior journey to his past, as it forces him to face difficult feelings that he can avoid in his daily life. Dawson’s 1969 Fastback links him to his past, symbolizing that he has not completely moved on from that point in his life. The ghost’s identity is foreshadowed in these chapters. The ghost’s dark hair is mentioned again when Dr. Bonner’s son, Alan Bonner, is introduced later in the novel, hinting that there is a connection between them. However, when Dr. Bonner is described in detail in Chapter 3, the author omits the mention of dark hair to misdirect readers from concluding that Dr. Bonner is the ghost.
The final story element established in this section is the character of Tuck. He is the catalyst who aims to rekindle the romance between Amanda and Dawson. His intentions play out like a game in which Dawson and Amanda have to figure out the meaning behind Tuck’s strange instructions. Having a character who facilitates the love between the protagonists is a staple in the romance genre.
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