Miles And Otis example essay topic

A Bend in the Road In Nicholas Sparks's novel A Bend in the Road, the main character, Miles Ryan, allows himself to be tormented by the killing of his wife, Missy. By assuming that it was cold blooded murder, Miles spent two years on the case, trying to find the possible "killer" of the hit and run, only to find that it was indeed an accident and nobody was at fault. After finding that the death of his wife was indeed an accident, Miles realized that by living in the past for the last two years of his life he was not able to be the person that he really was. At the beginning of the novel, the author states, 'He (Miles) was tired of being alone, of waking up in an empty bed, though the feeling surprised him.

He hadn't felt that way until recently. In the first year after Missy's death, He couldn't even begin to imagine loving another woman... Even after he weathered shock and grief strong enough to make him cry every night, his life felt wrong somehow. ' The first impression that I got after reading this quote was that he was beginning to feel the need to move on. But as I read on I realized that he is so worked up about the case even two years later that he was not able to move on. As if there was something inside stopping himself.

I can feel the great amount of hurt and sorrow that he is producing, a couple of weeks after her death Miles took up smoking, though he denies it. He says he is ready to move on, but his heart is not. At one point in the story, Miles was at a bar and overheard a drunk talking about a guy named Otis and how he ran over Miles wife, and because Miles and Otis are not on each others good side, Miles rushes in and arrests Otis on the spot, pointing his gun at his head, ready to shoot when Otis gave any sign of struggle. Taking Otis in, Miles thought, 'I don't care.

Otis is going to jail, no matter what happens to me. Otis will rot away in prison like he made me rot for two years. ' Miles has so much anger and depression from the death of his wife that if he hears anything about the person who killed Missy, even if it is from a drunk guy, that he will just rush in and take the guy down. Finding out Otis didn't kill his wife, Miles was almost ready to give up the case when there was a knock on the door. Miles answered and discovered his girlfriend, Sarah, and her brother, Bryan, at the door.

Once they were all inside, Bryan confessed that he killed Miles' wife and how it was nobodies fault, a complete accident. Not believing Bryan, Miles arrested him. Wile Driving Bryan to the police station, Miles turned a curve and swerved to miss and oncoming delivery truck. The car flew into a ditch much like the one that occurred to missy two years ago. Now seeing that it was an accident, Miles told Bryan, 'I spent two years looking for the man who ruined my life. Jonah's life.

I lost two years because it was all I could think about. ' Miles decided to let him go because he realized that because he had chosen assumed the worst, that Missy died because of someone out to get him, he had lost two years of his life, which did not only affect him, but it affected his son Jonah as well. As you can see the theme is to not let yourself live by the past because then the only way you can go is backwards. Once Miles noticed this, he was able to change.