Allie and Noah, the central lovers in The Notebook, come from very different social backgrounds: Allie is a socialite, while Noah comes from a modest, working-class background. The main obstacle to their love is the external pressure Allie faces to marry a wealthy, socially powerful husband—and as the novel progresses, Sparks shows how irrelevant money, status, and social standing are in the face of deeper pursuits. Sparks ultimately argues that while money and status are seen as traditional markers of success, society should instead measure a person’s true wealth by how meaningful and fulfilled their life is: the loving relationships they have, the meaningful work they accomplish, and their connections to nature and their innermost selves.
Noah’s disregard for money and his focus on hard work demonstrate Sparks’s argument that the fullness of one’s life cannot be measured by what’s in a person’s wallet or by how powerful their connections may be. Thinking about money bores Noah, who’s a passionate nature-lover—he has always enjoyed “things that [can’t] be bought, and he [has] a hard time understanding people who [feel] otherwise.” Though Noah came into a small fortune after the war, when his old boss Morris Goldman died and left him a portion of his scrapyard’s earnings, Noah used the money not to buy fancy things or seek social advancement—instead, he poured the savings into fixing up an old house mostly on his own, creating a home and tending to the rivers and fields surrounding it. Noah, who was raised in a humble household by a hardworking single father, knows at a young age that one’s life should be measured not by wealth but by spiritual fullness and connection to things larger than social status and material possessions. He doesn’t worship money the way Allie’s family does—and when he finds himself financially secure due to Goldman’s generosity, he doesn’t hoard the money. Instead, he uses it to pursue a deeper connection to the things he cares about: nature, stillness, and hard work.
While Noah’s working-class background and love of nature have instilled in him a disdain for money, socialite Allie’s wealthy parents have taught her that money and social status are the most important things in the world. Allie is from a well-to-do Raleigh family—and as such, she’s expected to marry a man who will elevate her own position and her family’s as well. Though Allie loves Noah, her parents disapprove of the match and discourage her from pursuing him beyond their summer fling. “It wasn't that they didn't like him,” Sparks writes; “it was that he was from a different class, too poor, and they would never approve if their daughter became serious with someone like him.” Allie’s family measures success only in terms of wealth and status. They see nothing in Noah, even though his life is rich in other ways: he is spiritual, artistic, thoughtful, and deeply connected to nature and hard work. None of those things are important to the Nelsons—yet as Allie begins to reckon with the choice she’s about to make in marrying the wealthy, powerful Lon, she digs deep within herself and finds that the qualities Noah possesses are more important to her than money. With Noah, Allie can know true love—and she yearns to measure her life not in the material wealth she stands to accrue, but in the spiritual and emotional growth love can provide for her.
In spite of the pressures placed upon her shoulders by her parents, Allie ultimately decides that love, passion, and spiritual and artistic fulfillment are more important to her than money or status. She leaves Lon and pursues a life with Noah, dedicating herself to art, family, nature, and the small pleasures of a simple life. While Allie doesn’t live the high-society lifestyle with Noah that she would have with Lon, Sparks shows how her life is richer with the one she loves. At the end of their lives together, Allie and Noah are confined to a nursing home—yet as Noah reminisces about their lives together, poring over old letters he and Allie exchanged and thinking about the children they’ve raised, he finds himself content in his choices and bolstered by the happiness Allie found with him. With Noah’s love and support, Allie became a famous painter and a devoted mother—she experiences true fulfillment in her life and never stops to wonder about or pine for the fleeting material riches a life with Lon might have brought her. Her love for Noah—as well as her immense inner strength, her artistic fulfillment, and her connection to her children—are the things that brought her happiness rather than money or status.
Sparks knows that love is a powerful force—but he also knows that in a society where success is measured in terms of the tangible, people often choose the pursuit of material wealth over spiritual or emotional wealth. Through The Notebook, Sparks argues that society should encourage people to evaluate success not in terms of financial or social capital, but by the love they’ve shared and the relationships they’ve built.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Wealth and Fulfillment ThemeTracker
Wealth and Fulfillment Quotes in The Notebook
I am nothing special; of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.
It would work out for him, he knew; it always did. Besides, thinking about money usually bored him. Early on, he'd learned to enjoy simple things, things that couldn't be bought, and he had a hard time understanding people who felt otherwise.
[Lon] was handsome, intelligent, and driven, a successful lawyer eight years older than she, and he pursued his job with passion. […] [Allie] understood his vigorous pursuit of success… […] In the caste system of the South, family name and accomplishments were often the most important consideration in marriage. In some cases, they were the only consideration. Though she had quietly rebelled against this idea since childhood and had dated a few men best described as reckless, she found herself drawn to Lon's easy ways and had gradually come to love him.
Most of the summer, [Allie] had to make excuses to her parents whenever they wanted to see each other. It wasn't that they didn't like [Noah]—it was that he was from a different class, too poor, and they would never approve if their daughter became serious with someone like him. "I don't care what my parents think, I love you and always will," she would say. "We'll find a way to be together."
"When's the big day?"
"Three weeks from Saturday. Lon wanted a November wedding."
“Lon?"
"Lon Hammond Jr. My fiancé."
[Noah] nodded, not surprised. The Hammonds were one of the most powerful and influential families in the state. Cotton money. […] "With his name, he must be busy."
"He is. He works a lot."
He thought he heard something in her tone, and the next question came automatically.
"Does he treat you well?"
"It's unbelievable, Noah. How long did the restoration take?"
He looked up from the last bag he was unpacking. "Almost a year."
"Did you do it yourself?"
[…] "I started that way. But it was just too much. It would have taken years, and so I ended up hiring some people . . . actually a lot of people. But even with them, it was still a lot of work, and most of the time I didn't stop until past midnight."
"Why'd you work so hard?"
Ghosts, he wanted to say, but didn't.
"I don't know. Just wanted to finish, I guess.”
"Do you remember sneaking over here the night you first told me about this place? […] I got home a little late that evening, and my parents were furious when I finally came in. […] My mother had a long talk with me later that night. She said to me, 'I'm sure you think that I don't understand what you're going through, but I do. It's just that sometimes, our future is dictated by what we are, as opposed to what we want.’ […] It was a terrible thing for a girl to learn. That status is more important than feelings."
"Lon's handsome, charming, and successful, and most of my friends are insanely jealous. They think he's perfect, and in a lot of ways he is. "But there's always going to be something missing in our relationship." […]
"Why?"
[…] "I guess I still look for the kind of love we had that summer."
"C'mon," he said, reaching for her hand, "I want to show you something."
She got up and followed him through the door to the living room. He stopped in front of the fireplace and pointed to the painting that hung above the mantel. […]
"You kept it?"
"Of course I kept it. […] It makes me feel alive when I look at it. Sometimes I have to get up and touch it. It's just so real—the shapes, the shadows, the colors. I even dream about it sometimes. It's incredible, Allie—I can stare at it for hours."
"Poets often describe love as an emotion that we can't control, one that overwhelms logic and common sense. That's what it was like for me. I didn't plan on falling in love with you, and I doubt if you planned on falling in love with me. But once we met, it was clear that neither of us could control what was happening to us. We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created.”
Would Lon encourage her painting? She remembered showing him one of her paintings a couple of months after they had first started going out. It was an abstract painting and was meant to inspire thought. In a way, it resembled the painting above Noah's fireplace, the one Noah understood completely, though it may have been a touch less passionate. Lon had stared at it, studied it almost, and then had asked her what it was supposed to be. She hadn't bothered to answer.
Though he wasn't Noah, Lon was a good man, the kind of man she'd always known she would marry. With Lon there would be no surprises, and there was comfort in knowing what the future would bring. He would be a kind husband to her, and she would be a good wife. She would have a home near friends and family, children, a respectable place in society. […] And though she wouldn't describe theirs as a passionate relationship, she had convinced herself long ago that this wasn't necessary… […] Passion would fade in time, and things like companionship and compatibility would take its place.
'What are you going to do?" her mother asked, pulling back. There was a long pause.
"I don't know," Allie finally answered. They stood together for another minute, just holding each other. […]
On her way out the door, Allie thought that she heard her mother whisper, "Follow your heart," but she couldn't be sure.
You and I were different. We came from different worlds, and yet you were the one who taught me the value of love. You showed me what it was like to care for another and I am a better man because of it. I don’t want you to ever forget that.
There is beauty where we sit this afternoon, Allie and I. This is the pinnacle of my life.
I open a drawer and find the flowers I'd once given her long ago, old and faded and tied together with ribbon. They, like me, are dry and brittle and difficult to handle without breaking. But she saved them. "I don't understand what you want with them," I would say, but she would just ignore me. And sometimes in the evenings I would see her holding them, almost reverently, as if they offered the secret of life itself.
