The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks - The Carnival

The reason I chose to blog about the section in the book where Ronnie, her brother, and her father go to a carnival that arrived in town was because it is in the carnival scene where most of the outside character (meaning, outside of Ronnie's family) are introduced. Ronnie sets off by herself, and wonders around the carnival, refreshing herself with a soda. She come across a volleyball court, where she views a tense game that is rambling on. She notices two teenage males, playing on the same team, and the sense she gets from them is negative. To Ronnie, the two seem the type of popular, self-absorbed boys, that flaunt themselves as much as possible. Ronnie, disgusted with the fact she stayed so long to watch a game she wasn't interested in in the first place, turns to leave, as one of the male volleyball players(Will) she mentally prosecuted runs to save a flying ball and collides with Ronnie, splashing the remnants of her soda all over her.

Ronnie, after quickly escaping the many apologies of a person who she wasn't very keen on meeting, finds her soda spilled on her again as she runs into Blaze, an girl about Ronnie's age with a dark, independent appearance. This is the same appearance Ronnie is trying to come across as to everyone else around her. After talking for a moment or two, Ronnie realizes she is fond of Blaze. Blaze suggests a change of clothes for Ronnie, but Ronnie refuses the offer at first, and once again finds herself with her brother Jonah after Blaze dissappears.

Meanwhile, Will leaves his place in the volleyball game and wonders the carnival game area. whiel playing a basketball game, his ex-girlfriend Ashley approaches and invites him to her home for a get-together with some friends. Will reluctantly refuses and leaves Ashley alone. Will later meets up with his volleyball partner, Scott, who tries as hard as he can to persuade Will to accept the invite, so that he is able to get together with Ashley's best friend, Cassie. Will is tired of the drama that constantly passes between himself and Ashley, and he tries to talk himself out of the predicament. Ashley is one of the characters I remember visualizing the most. I pictured Ashley to be a thin, sharp-featured girl with a smaller/average height. It described her in the book with blond hair, so I pictured her hair to be fully blond, straight, and reaching her backside, with small wave-like curls on the edge that are barely noticeable. Her smile would be sweet, and kind, but ignorant at times. Her eyes would be blue, and her nose would be longer and pointy. "Ashley smiled. Her white tube top, sandals, and dangly earrings shwoed off her blue eyes and blond her to maximum affect (pg. 52)." I visualized her voice to be calm and smooth, maybe slightly high pitched.

Blaze -----Ronnie ----- Jonah - sister and brother

new friends

Scott ---------- Will ------------ Ashley - ex-couple
best friends