(Warning: Spoilers!)
If I Stay is
a touching book about grief and survival. The main character, Mia, had an
ordinary life with a strong passion for the cello, a down to earth family, and
an adoring boyfriend who loved her for who she was. The whole story, as I felt,
was about how normal your life can be, and in one minute, and your life would
be forever changed by just one action. That action, in the case of If I Stay,
was one truck. One accident. Her life impacted forever. She was able to have an
outer body experience in which she was able to be active in a coma. Throughout
the book Mia debates if it is worth it to stay alive. I think that the whole
theme to the book is choice. You always have a choice. The real struggle is
finding which choice is the better one, for you and for others who care about
you. Another theme could be sacrifice, because Mia had to chose to live on, or
give up. Though, with every choice she had, there was a sacrifice she had to
make.
One example
of choice is on pg.152 when Mia realizes “And that’s how I know. Teddy. He’s
gone, too.” (Spoiler! Sorry!) After her parents were killed in the crash, the
only reason she was holding on to life was her little brother, Teddy, and her
boyfriend, Adam. But since her brother’s passing, was Adam enough for her to
keep on fighting? Another example is on pg.234, “… I need to hold his hand… I
aim every remaining ounce of energy into my right hand… I summon all the love I
have ever felt… and then I squeeze.” This shows us that Mia truly did believe
in her love for Adam, and fought her way out of her coma for him.
An example
of the theme sacrifice in the book If I Stay, could be when Mia was deciding to
survive, or give up. Either choice would mean sacrificing something precious to
her. Giving up would sacrifice Adam, her boyfriend, and her grandparents, but
being able to see her parents and her little brother again. But fighting
against the coma would sacrifice her parents and brother, but she would see
Adam and her grandparents again. Another example of sacrifice, on pg. 231, Adam
says to Mia; “If
you stay, I'll do whatever you want. I'll quit the band, go with you to New
York. But if you need me to go away, I'll do that, too. I was talking to Liz
and she said maybe coming back to your old life would be too painful, that
maybe it'd be easier for you to erase us. And that would suck, but I'd do it. I
can lose you like that if I don't lose you today. I'll let you go. If you stay.”
This truly, as I feel, is the most powerful quote in the book. It has so much
meaning of love, and hope, and sacrifice to it. And it’s all bound together by
choice.
In conclusion, the amazing book ‘If I Stay’ has many
powerful meanings. The theme choice, as I think, is the most powerful theme in
the whole book. The book is rounded around choice. The choices Mia made. The
choices Adam made. The choices her parents made. The choices of all of the
people around her. The choice to give up, or survive. She chose to sacrifice. She
chose Adam over her family. She chose to survive.