Third Semester

I am currently reading A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. I will soon be reading a true story called Into the Wild. I have learned more about John Carroll. I have learned some new names, met new people, and learned my way around the school. I can't believe that half of the year is over already. I hope to stay on the Honor Roll until the year is over. I think I changed academically because I am getting better grades than last year. I think I made some really nice friends.

Character Sketch Essay

Mrs. Zurkowski

English/Green

14 January, 2011

Character Sketch: Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

Erin Tierney was a brave and courageous woman who was being abused by her husband in Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks.  Erin has an inner strength of character that gets her through the rough times and gives her the will to run away and start a new life.  She knows that she has to have a foolproof plan because her husband is a police detective.  He has the skills and the means to find her.  Erin’s courage, resourcefulness, belief in herself, and strong desire for a better life are the qualities that enable her to survive.

Erin is 27 years old, skinny, and has been married to her husband, Kevin, for four years.  She is tired of being abused by her husband, so she devises a plan to run away from him.  When he goes to work, he calls her every fifteen minutes to check on her.  Erin waits until Kevin is away on a two-day business trip before she puts her plan into action.  To get away, she changes her appearance.  She changes her hair from long and blonde to short and brown. Kevin still thinks she loves him; he doesn’t understand why she left.  She did the right thing by running away. “And here I am… 27. (Sparks)”  “He used to hit her, and in the beginning, she told him that if it ever happened again, she would leave him. He swore that it wouldn't and she believed him. But it only got worse after that… (Sparks)” Erin finally realized that it was not going to get better.  In order to survive, she needed to get away from Kevin. 

The first main event in the book was when Erin made the decision to run away from Kevin. She changed appearance, forwarded all house calls to her cellphone, and changed her name to Katie Feldman. While she was cutting her hair, she sobbed, “I loved you!  You promised me you’d never hit me again and I believed you! I wanted to believe you! (Sparks)” Tomorrow night, she knew, Kevin would walk through the house, calling for her, and he wouldn’t find her because she wasn’t there. And tomorrow night, he would begin his hunt.  Since Kevin was a police detective, he was skilled in finding people.  Erin moves from Dorchester, Massachusetts to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Omaha, Ohio to Wilmington to Southport, North Carolina where she finally stays for the rest of the book. She gets a job at Ivan’s Restaurant as a waitress. After a while in Southport, she falls in love with Alex and his children, Josh and Kristen. It was hard for her to be able to trust another man because of the way Kevin treated her.  Eventually, she was able to trust Alex and wanted to be with him forever.  Alex says, “I love you, Katie. You might not be ready to say those words now, and maybe you'll never be able to say them, but that doesn't change how I feel about you.(Sparks)” Later, Erin says, “I know. And I love you, too. (Sparks)” Even though Erin doesn’t want love in the beginning, she finds Alex and can’t help herself.

Erin was transformed because she learned to trust others. It was hard for her to do this because of Kevin, but she learns that all people are not like him.  She loved Alex from the beginning, but she wasn’t sure if he was trustworthy.  She thinks, “…though Katie couldn't claim to know him well, her instincts told her he was a man she could trust. That no matter what she told him, he would support her. That he would guard her secrets and never use what he knew to hurt her. (Sparks)” And then, “The days passed with easy spontaneity, untroubled by shadows from her prior life. She couldn't help it: she trusted him. (Sparks)” After time passed, Erin was ready to truly begin her new life with Kevin.  She let go of the past and gave her trust and her love to Kevin.  They were able to begin their life journey together.  Erin was finally treated in the loving, respectful way that she deserved.

   Erin Tierney is a brave woman. Erin was being abused by her husband in the story Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. Erin has an inner strength of character which gets her through the hard times and gives her the power to run away and start a brand new life. She knows that she has to have a strong supported plan because her husband is a police detective. He has the ability and the means to find her. Erin needs bravery, capability, confidence in herself, and powerful desire to live a better life.

Source Citation

Sparks, Nicholas. Safe Haven. 1st. New York: Grand Central, 2010. 352. Print.