FRQs

In the novel P.S. I Love You, the author, Cecelia Ahern uses the symbol of the letters to convey the progression of Holly’s abilities to continue living after her husband's passing, ultimately illustrating the importance of persevering through grief in difficult times and finding hope that things will get better.

Initially, the first letter Holly receives from her husband, Gerry, after his passing is a small reminder of things she needs to do for herself. The beginning of the novel starts with a flashback to a moment when Gerry and Holly got into a spat about who would get up to turn the overhead light off before bed. Holly ended up getting out of bed to turn the light off and hitting her shin on the bed frame, so every night after that instance Gerry turned the light off. In the first letter that Holly opens from Gerry, he reminds her of the story where she hit her leg and he leaves her a package containing a lamp to keep by the bedside table so she can prevent injuring herself again from being unable to see in the dark. Because this first letter starts with a seemingly insignificant reminder and gift, it represents the mindset Holly has begun to have and shows how small steps need to be taken to improve this. Consequently after reading the letter, Holly is then able to begin taking herself out of the depression she had fallen into by doing one small thing a night that reminds her fondly of her late husband. Therefore the first letter that may have seemed unimportant had actually helped Holly significantly due to the small piece of hope this letter had given her that life can continue without Gerry.  Additionally, one of the following letters that Holly receives has a more substantial message to it to help Holly persevere. Holly continues to receive a letter every month, but one of the most important of those letters included Gerry asking Holly to get rid of his belongings. Gerry told Holly to get rid of all of his stuff because he knew that she did not need material objects to remember him. Since Holly understood this she was able to slowly begin getting rid of Gerry’s things that were going unused and just taking up space through the letters symbolizing Holly's progression with her grief. Thus continuing to help Holly through her difficult experience with the grief of her late husband and how she managed to cope with his passing. 

Furthermore, Holly's grieving experience becomes easier because she begins to receive letters that have more weight behind their meaning. Holly receives a letter that holds an impact on how she is going to change her life from the way things were when Gerry was alive. Gerry sends Holly an influential letter that tells her to find herself a career that she loves and to not settle for anything less than what she loves. Because Gerry knew Holly better than anybody in her life, he knew that she was unhappy with her career while he was still alive. Consequently telling her to find another career, all Gerry ever wanted was for Holly to be happy and knowing that she was doing a job everyday that she did not love, was hurting him as well. Therefore this letter shows that Holly should be making changes to better her life after Gerry’s passing, due to the use of the symbolism of the letters to mark the progression of Holly's healing journey.  Finally, the last letter Holly receives from her late husband gives her the final bit of strength she needs to continue living a happy life without him. Nearing the end of the novel, Holly receives her final letter, in which Gerry tells her to not be afraid to fall in love again. Holly is then able to accept the fact that she is falling in love with someone else because she got the blessing from her late husband of how important it was for her to move on. This letter was placed as the final letter at the end of the novel because it signifies to the reader that Holly has reached the end of her grieving journey. Since Holly gets the justification from Gerry that it is alright to move on, she is fully able to jump into a new relationship with someone who she has fallen in love with. Thus the letters represented the progression of Holly’s healing process as they got more and more insightful as the story went on. 

Overall, the letters in the novel P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern, symbolizes the progression of Holly's grieving process after her husband Gerry’s passing. The contents within each letter represented which stage of grief Holly was in at that time, starting out with simple requests and eventually leading up to more substantial information. Through Gerry’s letters, Holly was able to gain the hope that her life would not be painful forever and eventually she would be able to be happy without him.

In Where Rainbows End, Cecelia Ahern uses the character of Rosie Dunne in order to convey how characters have to forfeit something to reveal their values, ultimately illustrating the inevitability of sacrificing important things in life to end up on the correct path.

To start off, Rosie’s plans for her future after high school get turned upside down when she makes a crucial life decision. Rosie had recently got accepted into a college in Boston, and she planned to move to the United States from England shortly after she graduated. Unexpectedly, after her senior prom, she discovered that she was pregnant, and she needed to stay in England for the pregnancy. Because Rosie was so passionate and excited to move forward with her life in the states, making the sacrifice of carrying out the pregnancy and missing the opportunity to go school, ended up changing the course of her life. Consequently, having to stop her life plans for this pregnancy shows her ability to adapt to life's changes. Therefore illustrating how life can still workout even when things don’t go as planned due to the sacrifice of her education. Additionally, Rosie hadn’t initially planned to keep her baby. Rosie had planned on giving her child up for adoption, then attending school the following semester. After giving birth, she ultimately decided she couldn’t give her daughter up, which continued to put a halt to her furthering her education. Because Rosie decided to keep her daughter, Katie, she altered the course of her life going forward. Since Rosie now had to raise her daughter alone, she was completely giving up her ability to go to university. Thus showing her compassion and how loving she was towards her daughter due to the decision to sacrifice her own personal goals.

Furthermore, Rosie gave up her education, but still managed to find her way to her dreams. Being unable to pursue further education, Rosie fell onto a different path than she expected her life to be on. In order to support herself and her child, Rosie had to get a job that paid well enough for her to make more than just ends meet. Rosie got a job at a local hotel in order to support her new little family. Because Rosie had to give up her dreams, she was stuck working a job that didn’t completely fulfill her. Consequently, conveying Rosie's determination to give her daughter the best life she possibly could. Therefore showing the morals of Rosie's characters due to her sacrifice of her own life in order to take care of her daughter. Finally, Rosie makes the most out of a situation that initially seemed difficult. Rosie had wanted to go to school to study hotel management and having this job at a hotel led her closer to that goal of one day opening her own bed and breakfast. Since she had her daughter and was unable to go to university, she was able to find a new passion and goal to work towards. Thus representing Rosie’s constant drive for more and her desire to feel fulfilled in life through her ability to make the best out of what she had to give up. 

Rosie's decision to have and raise her baby showed how empathetic and caring she was, ultimately revealing how her choices affected the rest of the story. Rosie was incredibly passionate about her future and making the choice to keep her daughter represented how being able to make sacrifices can benefit one's life. Overall, Rosie would never have ended up where she did if it weren’t for having her daughter, conveying that surrendering parts of one's life can cause them to find an even better path.