Great Moments in Literature

[Senior2315]

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?

[kelby_lake]

When Nick says his final words to Gatsby.

And the first and second scenes in Measure for Measure between Isabella and Angelo.

[Jeremydav]

When Dewey Dell walks into the pharmacy with 10 dollars for an abortion in "As I Lay Dying", and the manager's reaction.

[JZD]

When Huck says "All right, then, I'll GO to Hell."

[marcolfo]

whe sancho vomits on don quijotes' face

[Mr. Pedantic]

The end of Balzac's 'Pere Goriot', where Eugène de Rastignac declares a war on society, left quite a lasting impact on me.

[Seasider]

The conversation that The Little Prince has with the fox. When the fox says that they are creating a bond between them. It's actually best in French.

[Travis_R]

The end of Lolita, when Humbert realizes he had stolen her childhood.

"and that is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita."

Edgar Derby's death in Slaughterhouse-5

[pains of sleep]

when Falstaff confesses to conscripting untrained peasants for cannon fodder so he can have money to buy liquor

[iamnobody]

Howard Roark's courthouse speech

[Desolation]

Ivan Karamazov's speech about how he cannot believe in a God that allows children to suffer.

[spookymulder93]

When Winston and Julia are standing in front of the picture or clock I forget what it was and they say "we are the dead" and O'brien says "yes, you are the dead"- I got freakin chills dude!

In The Stand when Franny is watching television and there's this militant group on a show just killing people in the audience.

When Pablo and the towns people murder all the public officials one by one. The only good thing about For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Dante's entire trip through Hell.

Ivan's conversation with the Devil.

[Abras]

When Winston and Julia are standing in front of the picture or clock I forget what it was and they say "we are the dead" and O'brien says "yes, you are the dead"- I got freakin chills dude!


To add to that, what about in issue 24 of The Walking Dead when Rick gives a dramatic speech and then ends it with "Don't you get it? We are the walking dead!" Pretty intense, I must say :D

[IceM]

Three moments up to this point:

Joyce's description of Hell in Portrait of An Artist as a Young Man. Scared the decomposition out of my bowels (because I can't use profanity.)

Siddhartha's moment of Enlightenment was inspirational.

When Polonius was slain. =/

[Evaril]

Charlus' downfall in In Search of Lost Time.

[Abras]

When Polonius was slain. =/
Polonius got what was coming to him! But at least we can all get a nice moral lesson out of it: in short, DON'T, under any circumstances, blindly agree with your conversation partner on the shape of clouds... ("To thine own self be true" my rump!)

[Heteronym]

This would make an endless list:

- Raskolnikov trying to explain to Sonya why he killed the old lady and realizing he has no clear idea why he did. Such a heartbreaking moment.

- I second Joyce's description of Hell. The two sermons the priest gives are the passages I best remember from the novel.

- Woland keeping his promise and reuniting Margarita and the Master. Also Pontius Pilates and Jesus Christ meeting again to continue their unfinished conversation. Never a happy ending felt so right.

- From Seeing, the Superintendent's change of heart and his rebellion against the government. His attempt at protecting the doctor's wife and his assassination.

- Knowing who killed Roger Ackroyd.

[Pryderi Agni]

How about Winston Smith realizing he loved Big Brother? That's as good a moment as any.

[Patrick_Bateman]

The end of Fahrenheit 451


/thread

[Gregory Samsa]

The end of The Trial.

"Like a dog!"

[Mr. Pedantic]

The end of The Trial.

"Like a dog!"

When Gregor Samsa is forgotten by his family. Truly gripping!

[Seasider]

When Benedict kisses Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing and says "Peace. I will stop your mouth"

[Delarge]

Ljovins second marriage proposal to Kitty in "Anna Karenina"

[scaltz]

When Kafka makes love with his supposed-to-be mother in "Kafka on the Shore".

[fetish]

Ljovins second marriage proposal to Kitty in "Anna Karenina"
Yes! And the train?

[the facade]

Some moments from the top of my head:

1) 1984 - The whole book's tension culminating into the final scene in the cafe, and the words from the radio proclaim "under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me".
2) On my second reading of The Stranger, there was a particularly poignant passage in the daze of the court scenes where Mersault muses to himself about his willingness to explain that he always went with the flow of events and moments. Then he interrupts his musings to listen to the prosecutor who was speaking of his soul.
3)Reading Leonard Cohen's The favorite Game there were so many instances that I had to put the book down because the beauty of the language was simply overwhelming

Cheers!

[Mr. Pedantic]

Ljovins second marriage proposal to Kitty in "Anna Karenina"

Okay, I really can't go any longer without having read "Anna Karenina" now. Everyone keeps talking about it!

[Pryderi Agni]

How about the last scene of Father Goriot? Eugene de Rastignac: "Henceforth, there is war between us." One of the most poignant statements ever made.