In the beginning of the book, Cals relationship with Tessa is a very typical brother and sister relationship. At page 42, he says that he hopes she’ll die while he is away.

But later in the book, it’s kind of the opposite and he really doesn’t want her to leave (page 287: “He sobs into my shoulders, his tears melt through my pyjamas. … His real, real tears. ‘I love you, Cal.’”)

Tessa’s mother left her family (Tessa, Cal and her father) for another man (page 231: “’Tell me about him.’ … ‘The man you left us for.’”). But in the end of the book, Tessa’s father and mother are back together. (page 239: “And is Mum in there with you?” (yes, she is.) ) She’s really not involved with Tessa’s sickness, because most of the time Tessa was sick, she wasn’t there. (Page 221: “’I’m sorry. I don’t know any of this.’”)

Zoey is Tessa’s only friend (except for Adam after a while). When Tessa left high school, she lost most of her friends, and she says she doesn’t want any other friends, because they all pity her. Zoey is a pretty rebellious girl; she has sex with quite a few guys and she gets pregnant after a while. Tessa won’t see her baby, because she dies before Lauren (Zoeys baby) is born. Zoey will call her baby Lauren Tessa Walker.

Zoey helps Tessa with completing her list.

2. A.    Describe the plot of the story in 10 -12 steps.

1. The main character, Tessa Scott, has leukemia for 4 years. She quit school and is kind of depressed. She made a list of things she still wants to do. Her list contains: sex, say yes to everything for a day, drugs, do something against the law, drive a car, fame, bring her parents back together, love and see the birth of her friend’s child. Zoey, her friend, says she’ll help her.
2. So, like number one says, she has sex with a random guy she met in a club. Her father doesn’t agree with her clubbing. Tessa’s parents are divorced. Her mother has (for a long time) not been involved in Tessa’s sickness. Tessa had chemo for a while, but she quit that. Now she only goes to hospital to check if the cancer has spread.
3. After a while, the doctor said that it actually is spreading, and he encourages her to do the things she wants to do. And so she does. She meets Adam. Tessa faints a lot, because she is sick.
4. She uses drugs, that Adam gave her, together with Zoey. Zoey is still hanging out with Scott. Tessa goes on a motor trip with Adam, and they go to the hill side. He tells her that having a relationship with her, would be a waste of time (basically)
5. Tessa spends one day doing things against the law; she steals from a little shop but gets caught. Her father is angry. Zoey is acting very weird lately.
6. Tessa drives her fathers car (number 5). Zoey tells Tessa she is pregnant from Scott. She wants to get rid of it but Tessa hates that idea. Tessa really wants to be there when Zoey goes into labor. Tessa and Adam kiss.
7. Tessa and her dad go to the radiostation and they talk about Tessa’s treatment. He does that because he knows she has ‘fame’ on the list. She hates it. They celebrate Christmas: Adam, Adams mother, Tessa’s family and Zoey.
8. Tessa and Adam have sex. (love on her list)
9. Tessa has a huge nose bleed and has to go to hospital. Adam is shocked at what he sees and he’s left behind at Tessa’s house. Tessa is alone with her mother. When they drive home, the name ‘Tessa’ is all over their city with graffiti. Adam made her famous.
10. Tessa wants Adam to move in, but her father is really against that. But Tessa wants him to move in because she has bad dreams. And so he stays over.
11. Everything is going well; Tessa’s family is planning to go on holiday. But then Tessa loses consciousness on an afternoon. It was a close call, but the doctor also tells her that the cancer has spread through her entire body. She should stay in hospital for the medicine and treatments, but she wants to go home and so she goes home. Adam promised her to have sex, one more time, when she would come home. But he is visiting a University that day (Adam’s mother tells her) and Tessa is really angry and throws all her stuff out of her window. Her father hates her for that and cries, and tells her he doesn’t want her to leave nothing for him. So he goes outside and cleans up the garden.
12. And then she’s about to die. She writes ‘instructions’ to everyone and she has conversations about her death with everyone. Tessa is dreaming a lot. She dreams about Zoey’s baby. She also relives some moments of her past. After a while she can only hear everyone and can’t respond. Then she dies.

B.        Indicate the importance of the event by giving a number in the ranking column

Step

Event

Ranking

1

Tessa made a list.

2

2

Tessa has sex with a random guy / she goes to the hospital now and then.

12

3

The doctor tells Tessa her cancer is spreading / she meets Adam

1

4

Tessa uses drugs / Zoey hangs out with Scott / Adam tells her he doesn’t want a relationship.

9

5

Tessa is doing whatever she likes / Zoey acts weird.

11

6

Zoey is pregnant and Tessa wants to be with her when she goes in labor.

10

7

Tessa goes to the radio / she celebrates Christmas with everyone.

7

8

Tessa has sex with Adam.

4

9

Tessa goes to the hospital / sees her name everyone in town.

5

10

Tessa wants Adam to move in / Adam sleeps together with Tessa.

6

11

Tessa’s cancer has really spread / she throws all her stuff out of her window

8

12

Tessa is dying.

3

133 words.

3.         From whose perspective(s) do we get the story?

First-person point of view.

Explain your answer by referring to the story  (give an example).

Just because the story is told as like you are Tessa. It’s the ‘I’ person.

Page 43:          “My legs feel weak.”

Page 118:        “I made a fatal error thinking he could save me.”

Page 202:        “I hate that. I shrug him off. ‘I want to be there.’”

Page 279:        “I have never shared anything so intimate, never seen such a look of bewildered

love as his mouth opens and his eyes widen.”

Page 326:        “Adam strokes my head, my face, he kisses my tears. We are blessed.”

4.         Theme

            A.  Choose the 2 most important themes dealt with in the novel.

Death:

            I think death is an important theme in the book. Tessa’s life is all about death now that she stopped the treatments and cancer medications. She has to deal with the fact that she’s going to die.

Sometimes she’s brave, when she gave up treatment. But sometimes she’s scared by the idea of dying, for example, when she asks her nurse if dying is painful.

And sometimes she just doesn’t want to leave, when she hears that Adam is going to University and she just doesn’t want to accept that she can’t go there.

There’s a constant struggle with death for Tessa.

Love and friendship:

            I think ‘love and friendship’ is the other important theme in the book. Because the book is mainly about Tessa, who is dying, and her relationships and ‘adventures’ with her friends and family.

She struggles with her love for her dad, because on the one hand she really loves him, but on the other hand doesn’t want to do what he says. She wants to do everything her own way, and that’s something her father doesn’t like.

She struggles with her love for Adam, because she doesn’t want to be sick in front of him, but she does want him close when she’s afraid in the dark. She struggles also with the idea of him going to college and moving on with his life. She knows their relationship won’t last for a long time. Adam also struggles with it and I think they both just want to enjoy the moment.

1.  -    Give examples of how each theme is presented in the novel and        

      what the writer wants to make clear about it.

Death is kind of obvious, because we know from the first moment that Tessa is going to die, because the writer tells you that.

I think the writer wants to make clear, how a person feels when they only have a few more months. And that you should appreciate life and make the most of it. Because it will be over before you know it.

Love and friendship is also kind of obvious, because you can read all her thoughts about everyone she cares about, and so also her irritations about them and their flaws.

When you just think about it, you realize that the whole book is about Tessa and her circle of friends and family.

Tessa is not the easiest girl to live with.

Her father knows this and struggles with it. But he really don’t want to let her go. He loves her unconditionally. Tessa has already accepted the fact that she’s going to die and her father hasn’t yet.

Tessa’s mother hasn’t been much in Tessa’s life the last couple of years. I think she finally took responsibility for herself.

Zoey and Tessa have a very good friendship. Although they do fight, they will always be true to each other.

Tessa and Adam have a very special relationship. They have a lot of fun, but are also both very serious about their relationship. They know their relationship won’t last so they enjoy every second of it.

• Discuss how the theme is represented by different characters.                   

Death is represented by Tessa, and not by any other character.

Love and friendship is represented by all the other characters.

They love Tessa and will love her till the end. All the characters have their own special connection with Tessa. Her dad will always be there for her and Tessa knows that. But at the same time, they argue a lot. Because she has a different view on the situation than her dad.

Adam loves her to death (literally), although he hasn’t known her that long. But their connection is unbelievably strong.

93 words.

1.   Explain how the themes relate to the main character.

Well, love, friendship and death all relate to Tessa. I think chapter twenty-six (page 194) really combines them. It’s Christmas and all the characters are together.

Zoey tells everyone she’s pregnant and Tessa then says she wants to be there to see her baby. Her dad kind of tells her that’s impossible, because the doctors already predicted that she wouldn’t be able to make that date. But she says she will, which is typical of her.

Cal also does some magic tricks, which is also typical of him. And after Christmas, Adam and Tessa will have sex, which will connect to the theme ‘love’.

“’I’ve put your baby on my list’

(…)

Dad reaches out a hand and touches mine across the table. ‘Tessa,’ he says.

            I hate that. I shrug him off. ‘I want to be there.’

Zoey says, ‘It’s another five months, Tess.’

‘So? (…)

            ‘Tessa,’ she says, ‘I want you to be there.’

104 words, and 156 with the quotes.

VWO 6  -  English    Literature assignment -1    (book 4)

1.         Make a photocopy of the beginning and the end of the book.

First page:One

I wish I had a boyfriend. I wish he lived in the wardrobe on a coat hanger. Whenever I wanted, I could get him out and he’d look at me the way boys do in films, as if I’m beautiful. He wouldn’t speak much, but he’d be breathing hard as het ook off his leather jacket and unbuckled his jeans. He’d wear white pants and he’d be so gorgeous I’d almost faint. He’d take my clothes off too. He’d whisper, ‘Tessa, I love you. I really bloody love you. You’re beautiful’ – exactly those words – as he undressed me.

                I sit up and switch on the bedside light. There’s a pen, but no paper, so on the wall behind me I write, I want to feel the weight of a boy on top of me. Then I lie back down and look out at the sky. It’s gone a funny colour – red and charcoal all at once, like the day is bleeding out.

                I can smell sausages. Saturday night is always sausages. There’ll be mash and cabbage and onion gravy too. Dad’ll have the lottery ticket and Cal will have chosen the numbers and they’ll sit in front of the TV and eat dinner from trays on their laps. They’ll watch The X Factor, then they’ll watch Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? After…

Last page:

Adam blows smoke at the town below. Says, ‘Anything could be happening down there, but up here, you just wouldn’t know it.’

Adam strokes my head, my face, he kisses my tears.

                We are blessed.

Let them all go.

The sound of a bird flying low across the garden. Then nothing. Nothing. A cloud passes. Nothing again. Light falls through the window, falls onto me, into me.

Moments.

All gathering towards this one.

1. In what way do they relate to the story?

No, you don’t get any information the characters don’t have. That’s because you read what Tessa thinks, and so you can’t get any information Tessa doesn’t have, because… Well that’s just obvious.

No, the main issue isn’t introduced in the beginning. The book doesn’t start with: ‘I’m sick.’ It’s just a wish of any 16 year old girl.

So the beginning doesn’t really relate to the main story, but it does relate to Tessa. Because we get a lot of those ‘monologues’.

The storyline is literally brought to an end, because Tessa’s life ends at the last page. So it’s no open end. The only thing you don’t know is how the other characters will manage after Tessa’s death. But they are no main characters. So I would say no, the story doesn’t end with an open end.

Further more, the end of the book is closely related to the story, because it’s just the end of the main character. She lived to die.

164 words.

1. What becomes clear about the structure of the story?

The story doesn’t really begin at the beginning, like Tessa’s birth, but the story is chronological. We kind of start at the point that she quits treatments and medicine. And then the story goes from alive to death. So it’s chronological.

The story is a linear story. It’s just only Tessa and her story from beginning to end. All the events relate to each other and follow each other.  

69 words.

1. What do you think of this beginning and ending?

I think the beginning of the story could be better. Maybe the start would be better it they just started telling Tessa that she should do the things she wants to do.

But on the other hand, the first page does really relate to the middle of the story. She wants a boyfriend that says: ‘’Tessa, I love you. I really bloody love you.’ And that happens! (page 279)

So that’s fun.

The ending of the book is perfect. There’s no way it could have been done better. It was so emotional, to reread parts of the book, because she relives them (kind of) in her dreams. I cried a lot (like, a lot) when reading the last pages. Also with the numerous empty parts on the page, it gives an extra touch to it.

135 words.                              

2.        Write an inspiring review of the book      

Can you even imagine this: you’re only 16 years old and you have leukemia. You know your life will end in a few months time. And now the important question: what would you do with the rest of your life?

Can you even imagine this: you’re only 16 years old and you have leukemia. You know your life will end in a few months time. And now the important question: what would you do with the rest of your life?

That’s roughly the story of Before I die. But don’t think you can predict what will happen in the book. It’s an emotional rollercoaster for Tessa, the main character. Especially with the other characters: her father who doesn’t want to give her up, her younger brother who doesn’t understand everything and her mother who left her and the rest of the family for another guy.

This is no ordinary book.

Most books have a happy ending: the main character recovers by some magical way and lives happily ever after. But not in this book. The ending is the harsh reality, just like the rest of the book. It’s realistic, and not fairytale like.

That’s why this book will be different from all the other books you will and have ever read.

It feels like Tessa is alive, mainly because of the beautiful way in which it has been written by Jenny Downham. Her style of writing makes it so real. 

I mean, I cried while reading the last, well, 50 pages of the book! You empathize with Tessa.

Furthermore, this book had a huge impact on me. After reading this book, you really appreciate your life and you feel like you have to make your life worth living. I can absolutely recommend this book to everyone.

256 words.