One True Loves

Compare and contrast Emma’s relationships with Jesse and Sam. What are the key differences between the two? What makes Emma better suited for each relationship at different points in time?

Examine the related symbols of the bookstore, its bookmarks, and Emma’s last name. What common idea or theme do they all come to represent?

Trace the changes in Emma and Marie’s relationship over time, examining the individual and circumstantial details that contribute to their evolving dynamic.

Examine Jesse’s family cabin in Maine as an important setting and symbol in the novel. How does the cabin as a setting influence it as a symbol, and vice versa?

How do Emma’s engagement rings reflect the two men who gave them to her, and her relationship with each of them?

Jesse is a prodigious swimmer who gives up competing to pursue something different. When he is lost at sea, he manages to make his way back home by retraining himself to swim. Examine the use of swimming as a motif that speaks to both Jesse’s character and the theme of Identity Formation as Individuals and within Relationships.

Over time, Emma comes to feel differently about Acton than she did growing up. What are the events and factors that bring about this change?

Emma and Jesse do not end up together at the end of novel, despite having had a happy and loving marriage in the past. How does Reid guarantee each of the characters experiences a happy ending, despite separating these two soulmates? Examine how different themes and tropes come together to do so.