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Great Moments in Literature


Kylie

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I just finished re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird and there are two scenes that I particularly love. One is the scene that takes place outside the gaol, and the other is when

Scout meets Boo and says simply 'Hey, Boo'

. I love the way innocent Scout diffuses a tense situation in the former scene and how calm and grown-up she is in the second.

 

This got me thinking about other scenes in books that have impacted on me one way or another, either to make me cry, make me smile, to give me hope, or make me despair. I'll post some later, when I've had more time to think.

 

So what are the moments that have affected you? Be sure to include spoiler tags if they give away important plot points! :wink:

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The greatest moment in literature that came to mind in a nanosecond is in the end of A Tale of Two Cities, where

Sydney Carton, the spitting image of Charles Darnay, offers to take Darnay's place in jail so that Darnay could go back to his fiance (or wife? can't remember) Lucie Manette who just so happens to be the great love of Carton's life. Just before Darnay is supposed to go and get beheaded. Such a selfless sacrifice.

I cried a river.

Edited by frankie
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Of Mice and Men, right at the end:

 

Where George is talking to Lennie and asking him to tell about the place they're going to get one day, and putting a bullet in the back of his head before he finishes.

 

I cried an ocean over that. So sad that George had to do that, but saving Lennie the pain and fear of the alternative. That's a great love and a great friendship.

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I just finished re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird and there are two scenes that I particularly love. One is the scene that takes place outside the gaol, and the other is when

Scout meets Boo and says simply 'Hey, Boo'

. I love the way innocent Scout diffuses a tense situation in the former scene and how calm and grown-up she is in the second.

 

 

 

 

I love that too Kylie. Years ago I wrote an English paper on the scene you have in your spoiler.

 

My other favorite scene from a book that is heartbreaking for me is from Wuthering Heights when

 

 

Catherine talks to Nellie about excepting Edgar Lintons proposal of marrige, but confesses her love for Heathcliff saying "I am Heathcliff". Then also says it would degrad her to marry Heathcliff and he hears her and runs away!

 

 

Oh that gets me everytime!

Edited by nursenblack
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My other favorite scene from a book that is heartbreaking for me is from Wuthering Heights when...

Oh that gets me everytime!

 

The one that gets me from Wuthering Heights is the one where

 

 

Heathcliff damns Cathy's spirit; the whole, 'only do not leave me in this abyss where I cannot find you' thing.

That always gets me.

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The one from Wuthering Heights that I always dread is when

The narrator is frightened by what he thinks is Catherine's ghost, and Heathcliff cries out for her to come back.

 

 

Obviously, a lot of us think that Wuthering Heights is the greatest love story ever!

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I just finished re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird and there are two scenes that I particularly love. One is the scene that takes place outside the gaol, and the other is when

Scout meets Boo and says simply 'Hey, Boo'

. I love the way innocent Scout diffuses a tense situation in the former scene and how calm and grown-up she is in the second.

 

This got me thinking about other scenes in books that have impacted on me one way or another, either to make me cry, make me smile, to give me hope, or make me despair. I'll post some later, when I've had more time to think.

 

So what are the moments that have affected you? Be sure to include spoiler tags if they give away important plot points! :wink:

 

Now that I've read the novel I have to say I totally agree with you, especially on the jail scene. That was pretty powerful, I was scared out of my mind when I was reading it. Also, I loved all the Boo stuff. He's become one of my favorite characters ever. I really loved Atticus as well, what an amazing sense of humour and way of looking things he has :D

 

Ooh. Also some of the stuff on Harry Potter.

Like when Harry found out that Snape was in love with Harry's Mum, and Harry's Dad had been really mean towards Snape. My heart got broken when Snape died.

 

Also in HP:

the parts when Ron realises he's totally in love with Hermione. They're the best couple.

 

Edited by frankie
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Of Mice and Men, right at the end:

 

Where George is talking to Lennie and asking him to tell about the place they're going to get one day, and putting a bullet in the back of his head before he finishes.

 

I cried an ocean over that. So sad that George had to do that, but saving Lennie the pain and fear of the alternative. That's a great love and a great friendship.

 

We studied this in class and I remember choking back the tears when we finally watched the film version. So so sad :(

 

For me it would have to be that great line in Jane Eyre

 

Reader, I married him

 

 

It made me so happy when I first read it :)

Edited by MuggleMagic
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We studied this in class and I remember choking back the tears when we finally watched the film version. So so sad :(

 

For me it would have to be that great line in Jane Eyre

 

Reader, I married him

 

 

It made me so happy when I first read it :)

 

^^Me too :)

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We studied this in class and I remember choking back the tears when we finally watched the film version. So so sad :(

 

For me it would have to be that great line in Jane Eyre

 

Reader, I married him

 

 

It made me so happy when I first read it :)

 

 

And me, I loved it and still do.

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An obvious one (for me):

 

Bill Mason waking up in hospital to find that the world has come to an end whilst he slept, at the beginning of The Day of the Triffids. I once read this on a quiet winter's evening and I can still remember the hair standing up on the back of my neck as I did so. Great stuff!

 

 

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I suppose the Jane Eyre line must be my 'best', as JE was my favourite from an early age, but I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that scene from Jude the Obscure as the saddest. - You know, the one where 'Old Father Time' has done what he has

"Done because we are too menny."

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One that springs to mind is in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

 

I still remember exactly where it is in the book, at the end of chapter 19, where

Max admits that he killed Rebecca.

It was so unexpected and such a shock, I remember actually gasping out loud when I read it, and came straight on here to make a note of it :lol: A brilliant case of a plot twist and took the book in a whole new direction.

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An obvious one (for me):

 

Bill Mason waking up in hospital to find that the world has come to an end whilst he slept, at the beginning of The Day of the Triffids. I once read this on a quiet winter's evening and I can still remember the hair standing up on the back of my neck as I did so. Great stuff!

That's an amazing moment. It really hits home how quickly a huge and calamitous change can happen and how it can affect someone who is on the outside of it all when it occurs and onloy finds out about it after the fact.

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Damn, I was gonna say Wuthering Heights too! :lol: Seems like a lot of you got there before me. Absolutely love the part where

 

Heathcliffe digs up Cathy's grave.

Heart-wrenching that he's so desperate to have her back.

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  • 4 weeks later...

It's Wuthering Heightsfor me too. Cathy and Heathcliff's love story is probably the greatest.

Though the part I thought about is

 

Heathcliff's long great and scary speech to Nelly (and Isabella) about the differences between his and Linton's love for Cathy, his line Two words would comprehend my future - death and hell: existence, after losing her, would be hell. quite perfectly sums it up.

 

 

 

oh, love.

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For me, in Little Women

 

 

When Beth dies

 

 

It actually made me shout out NO! loudly and I had to put the book down for a while.

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  • 1 month later...

When Holden Caulfield has a few drinks, that whole segment in Catcher In The Rye where he's wandering about gradually becoming more and more disenchanted with the world, it's fantastic. Sure it's humorous but heartwrenchingly sobering at the same time, I've read nothing that has moved me in such a unique way before, it's so real.

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Agree with all those above, Heathcliff's speeches especially are incredibly affecting.

 

The book that I spent the most time blubbing through was 'the Book Thief', to say that I believed totally in the story and the characters is an understatement, stand-out moments for me were ...

 

Rudy eventually getting his prized kiss from Liesel ... 'Rudy, please, wake up, God damn it. wake up. I love you, wake up, wake up, wake up ....'

Liesel seeing her dead Mama and Papa ... 'Goodbye Papa, you saved me. No-one can play like you. I'll never drink champagne. No-one can play like you.'

 

Liesel and Max's reunion .... 'Finally in October 1945, a man with swampy eyes, feathers of hair and a clean shaven face walked into the shop. He approached the counter. 'Is there someone here by the name of Liesel Meminger?' .. they hugged and cried and fell to the floor.

 

I cried so much when I read this book that my OH thought I had a cold.

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Agree with all those above, Heathcliff's speeches especially are incredibly affecting.

 

The book that I spent the most time blubbing through was 'the Book Thief', to say that I believed totally in the story and the characters is an understatement, stand-out moments for me were ...

 

Rudy eventually getting his prized kiss from Liesel ... 'Rudy, please, wake up, God damn it. wake up. I love you, wake up, wake up, wake up ....'

Liesel seeing her dead Mama and Papa ... 'Goodbye Papa, you saved me. No-one can play like you. I'll never drink champagne. No-one can play like you.'

 

Liesel and Max's reunion .... 'Finally in October 1945, a man with swampy eyes, feathers of hair and a clean shaven face walked into the shop. He approached the counter. 'Is there someone here by the name of Liesel Meminger?' .. they hugged and cried and fell to the floor.

 

I cried so much when I read this book that my OH thought I had a cold.

 

Oh poppy, all of your moments make me want to read 'The Book Thief' again :)

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