“What does it mean to truly love another?”

The first line in the novel foreshadows the question that John will ultimately answer. Although the prologue takes place in 2006—after the action of the novel has taken place—John still poses this question. We will learn what this question means as we move forward in the narrative.

“When I first met Savannah Lynn Curtis—to me she will always be Savannah Lynn Curtis—I could never have predicted my life would turn out the way it has or believed I’d make the army my career.”

This statement foreshadows that John and Savannah will not end up together and that now she is someone else entirely, with an unmentioned married name only hinted at.

“I reflect on these things, and as always, our time together comes back to me. I find myself remembering how it began, for now these memories are all I have left.”

This quote foreshadows the events between Savannah and John that end up with him alone and without her. However, it also sets up the narrative as John’s reflection on the past, which thus establishes the prologue as the present day, and prepares us for a retelling of the history. As he says, the memories are all he has in the present.