Faith in Hardin

Faith in Hardin is Tessa’s decision to keep believing in his capacity for change and in a shared future, even when his overprotectiveness, control, and anger make their relationship painful. Recorded in her journal while she was in England and later read by Hardin, this faith is neither a claim that their conflicts do not matter nor a guarantee that they will be resolved: it is a hope she sustains in the face of uncertainty, and a measure of the responsibility her trust places on him.

Meaning and Personal Background

The journal entry begins with a question about faith, but Tessa’s answer moves away from religion and toward her relationship with Hardin. She describes faith broadly as belief in something beyond oneself, then explains that her own religious beliefs remain unsettled. She was raised to believe in a higher power, attended church regularly with her mother, and now questions what she believes as an adult, no longer simply following her mother’s expectations. That uncertainty gives the entry’s central turn particular weight: when Tessa thinks about faith, her attention goes to Hardin.

Her belief in him is personal rather than doctrinal. She admits that he is difficult, overprotective, and often controlling, and that the relationship tests her in ways she had never imagined. She does not present those behaviors as harmless; she places them beside her conviction that his intentions are good and that the relationship is worth the pain. Her faith therefore includes an unresolved tension between what Hardin does and what she believes he may yet become.

The Future Tessa Imagines

Tessa imagines that Hardin’s fear of losing her will eventually fade and that they will embrace a future together. She believes he wants that future too, although she does not expect him to say so openly. This is an expectation, not a promise Hardin has made: her entry gives voice to the future she hopes they can reach while acknowledging that he has difficulty expressing what he feels.

She is prepared to endure tears and arguments in the hope of seeing him develop faith in himself. The emphasis falls not only on whether Hardin will keep the relationship, but on whether he can believe he deserves happiness. Tessa’s imagined resolution depends on an inward change in him: she hopes he will speak honestly, stop shutting himself away from feeling, and recognize that he is not simply a villain. Her faith is thus directed toward his capacity for self-understanding as much as toward their life together.

Heroism, Harm, and Tessa’s Independence

Tessa’s description of Hardin holds opposing roles together. He has been her tormentor at times, but mostly her hero; she credits him with helping her stop pretending to be someone she was not. His influence, as she understands it, has helped her resist conforming to her mother’s idea of who she should become. The entry presents this as a meaningful change in Tessa’s own life, not merely as evidence of Hardin’s importance to her.

At the same time, Tessa does not define heroism as conventional perfection. She believes Hardin tries, even if he does not show the good in him in an expected way, and treats that effort as grounds for hope. She loves what she sees as his imperfect humanity and expects that continued effort could allow him to be happy. Her faith does not mean that he has already changed or that she can change him for him; the entry’s closing emphasis is that she will keep believing until he can believe in himself.

Hardin Reads the Entry

Hardin encounters the entry while reading Tessa’s journal and recognizes that it was written during her time in England. He thinks he should stop reading, but continues because the journal feels like the closest access he has to her. The scene makes Tessa’s private faith confront him after it was written: he is not hearing a promise offered to him in conversation, but reading her unedited thoughts after the relationship has been damaged.

Her confidence in him affects him in two sharply opposed ways. He feels pleased, even giddy, to learn that so much of her world once revolved around him; then that pleasure gives way to the awareness that he has lost her and caused the hurt he is reading about. He cannot understand why she believed in him, and describes the entry’s effect as emotionally wounding. The discovery does not amount to reconciliation. Instead, he takes it as a reason to owe Tessa and himself an effort to improve and to let go of his anger.

The entry’s significance lies in this gap between Tessa’s sustained belief and Hardin’s difficulty accepting it. For Tessa, faith means continuing to see the person he might become without denying the conflict he creates. For Hardin, encountering that faith exposes both what her trust meant to him and how badly his actions have failed it. The passage leaves the hoped-for transformation unresolved: Tessa’s belief is clear, while Hardin’s response is an obligation to try rather than proof that he has yet become the man she imagines.