As a young adult fiction novel, ‘Just One Day’ by Gayle Forman uses quotes that project the feelings of its characters to the reader. From love to pain, the novel intricately describes the personality of young adults.
Identity
Being Lulu, it made me realize that all my life I’ve been living in a small, square room, with no windows and no doors. And I was fine. I was happy, even. I thought. Then someone came along and showed me there was a door in the room. One that I’d never even seen before. Then he opened it for me. Held my hand as I walked through it. And for one perfect day, I was on the other side. I was somewhere else. Someone else. And then he was gone, and I was thrown back into my little room. And now, no matter what I do, I can’t seem to find that door.
In ‘Just One Day,’ Allyson struggles with her identity. As a young girl who just graduated from high school, Allyson tries to change her look and personality but soon discovers she does not want to change. However, Willem comes in, and Allyson becomes Lulu. With her as Lulu, Allyson opens up herself to the fun and beauty of travel and love, but when Willem abandons her, she retreats to a worse version of her former self. The quote above shows Allyson’s struggle with herself.
You’re just trying on different identities, like everyone in those Shakespeare plays. And the people we pretend at, they’re already in us. That’s why we pretend them in the first place.
The quote above explains that identity gets inherited from the people we try to emulate. It explains that we gain different characters from those we look up to the most.
I don’t know who I am. Or maybe I do know who I am and I just don’t want to be her anymore.
After getting abandoned by Willem, Allyson fell into a dark room where she could no longer find her original self. The quote above projects her hatred of herself. Allyson’s lack of identity occurred due to the conflict between Lulu, the part of her that was an explorer and in love with Willem, and her original self that hated adventure and was indifferent to the world.
No one is who they pretend to be.
We all try to project a different version of who we are to the world, and the quote above explains further that the part of ourselves we try projecting to the world may not be the real us, and we should not judge people without getting to know them better.
Fate
Travelling’s not something you’re good at. It’s something you do. Like breathing. You can’t work too much at it, or it feels like work. You have to surrender yourself to the chaos. To the accidents.
Fate is a crucial part of ‘Just One Day.’ As someone who lived a stereotypical lifestyle, Allyson never wanted to experience life in a way that discomforted her. However, Willem explained that fate made life beautiful because each randomness of events in someone’s life brings a valuable experience.
Sometimes the best way to find out what you’re supposed to do is by doing the thing you’re not supposed to do.
Accidents sometimes lead to great discoveries. The quote above is a statement that explains how accidents make us discover ways to make ourselves better.
Time
You forget, time doesn’t exist anymore. You gave it to me.
On her travel with Willem, Allyson got to experience solace in adventure. With just the two of them in a lost town, he takes her watch from her and tells her to imagine time as fluid, implying that she was not constrained by it anymore; this was the freedom she got to experience.
Pain
Part of me knows one more day won’t do anything except postpone the heartbreak. But another part of me believes differently. We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.
The quote above talks about pain and how it clouds people’s thoughts and changes their perception of reality. Though Allyson knew she and Willem were on an adventure for only a day, she still fell for him, and after he left, the pain of one day stuck with her for a year.
Love
You have to fall in love to be in love, but falling in love isn’t the same as being in love.
Willem explained to Allyson what it meant to be in love. To him, falling in love differed from being in love, as falling in love was more of a flaring emotion than a stable one. In his opinion, being in love was about tolerance, chemistry, and affection between two people.
And that’s when I understand that I have been stained. Whether I’m still in love with him, whether he was ever in love with me, and no matter who he’s in love with now, Willem changed my life. He showed me how to get lost, and then I showed myself how to get found.
The quote above explains how love brings out the best in us. Though he broke her heart, Allyson still admitted that meeting Willem made her experience the best side of herself and opened her eyes to the beauty of adventure.
FAQs
Does Allyson hate Willem in Just One Day?
No, Allyson did not hate Willem for abandoning her. She only felt depressed and sad that she had no clue where he was or why he left her.
Does Allyson end up meeting Willem again in Just One Day?
Yes, after a year of struggling with depression and heartbreak, Allyson takes a trip back to Europe, where she searches for Willem; she ends up in his home.
What is a quote from Just One Day?
“Or maybe it’s not a miracle. Maybe this is just life. When you open up yourself to it. When you put yourself in the path of it. When you say yes.”
