Message In A Bottle

Sparks continues to use Garrett’s dreams as a device to develop his character, chart his emotional progress, and drive the plot. The narrator reveals that Garrett wrote his letters to Catherine “after his dreams” (312) of her. Thus, it was the dreams that eventually led him to Theresa because they prompted his letter-writing, and finding one of these letters is what piqued her curiosity about him. Their significance to the novel’s plot, then, is crucial. The dream Garrett has after Theresa leaves Wilmington, in which Catherine nearly falls off a cliff and he “promise[s] not to ever let [that] happen again” (258), signals the feelings of guilt and ambivalence he has about his relationship with Theresa. This explains why he tells Jeb, “I don’t know whether I can see [Theresa] again” (259). He’d be moving on from Catherine, abandoning her memory, for a woman whom he cannot see with any regularity. This shows how much he still clings to Catherine’s memory, so much so that keeping it almost outweighs his feelings for Theresa; this demonstrates The Power of Memory. 

Later, when Garrett questions whether he and Theresa will ever feel like a team, the way he and Catherine always felt, he is riddled with uncertainty, and this doubt informs his dream that night. This time, he and Theresa are shopping in Boston when he spots Catherine and follows her into a foggy darkness only to find Theresa there. This dream suggests Garrett’s continued unwillingness to let Catherine go, to choose the living, breathing Theresa over his dead wife’s memory. His inability to catch Catherine and the fact that he finds Theresa instead also indicates his growing acceptance that the only love he can have is with Theresa, no matter how much he might wish for Catherine. In his final dream, Catherine assuages his feelings of guilt by telling him that she “brought the bottle to [Theresa]” (362), prompting him to take the Happenstance out just before the storm. He wanted to send his final message to her, a message that would symbolize his determination to move past Catherine’s memory and his hope of a future with Theresa. The irony that he dies in this attempt further demonstrates Life’s Unpredictability.

Sparks also continues building tension through the dramatic irony surrounding Garrett’s ignorance of his letters’ influence on Theresa, that is, until he finds the letters in her desk. When he asks Theresa about her most popular column, she thinks, “Easy—I found a message in a bottle once, and I got a couple of hundred letters. She forced herself to think of something else” (272). Readers are privy to her thoughts and the honest answer, so they know that she lies to Garrett, creating more tension. Later, when he asks how she always knows what to say to him, she says, “Because […] I know more about you than you would ever suspect” (274). She acts as though her statement refers only to knowing that he wants a kiss, but readers know how flagrant it is and that Garrett lacks all awareness of its truth. When the resolution of this irony comes, it is every bit as catastrophic as was foreshadowed. Garrett is appalled by Theresa’s lies, telling her she “used” him, and he accuses her of indulging in “some weird fantasy” that “because [he] loved Catherine, [he] would love [her] too” (315). He feels betrayed by her actions, asking her what “kind” of person she is, implying that only a dysfunctional one would act as she has. He lashes out and leaves immediately, insisting he doesn’t “even know who [she is]” (317). The revelation of Theresa’s deception is almost enough to cause irrevocable damage to the relationship, but it is Garrett’s response to the deception that convinces Theresa that he is not over Catherine and, perhaps, never will be. This is another testament to The Power of Memory.

The references to Catherine’s tiredness, stiffness, and general sickness now culminate in the revelation that she was pregnant when she died. Her condition is foreshadowed once more when Garrett recalls commenting on her eating spinach for the third time in a week and Catherine’s response that she’s “been craving it” without knowing why (264). Soon, with a “buoyant” face, she revealed to Garrett that she must have “gotten pregnant the last time [they] went sailing” (320). Thus, not only did Garrett lose his wife in the accident, but he also lost his future child. Further, the unborn child provides one more link between Garrett and Catherine as well as between the couple and the Happenstance. This information helps the reader to understand more about why Garrett has such difficulty moving on from her death and why the boat is such a significant part of his grieving and healing process.