Remember Friday's post? Well I am back today feeling great and wanting to keep the victorious feelings rolling on. And then I realized, I can keep it going with the Monday Discussion.
Whether or not you like football, it is hard to deny that most genre fiction ends happily. In fact, in the most popular genres of Mystery, Romance, Fantasy, and Science Fiction, while it is possible that an individual book does not turn out happily, the series better end with victory for the protagonist or that author will loose readers. Readers expect victory in those genres. If they do not get it, the book will disappoint.
For example, I never doubted for moment that Harry Potter was going to defeat Voldemort and save the day. Anyone who knew anything about Fantasy knew that the good guy may struggle over the course of many books, but in the end, he will defeat the bad guy.
Other victories in series that really get me cheering are Frodo destroying the Ring at the end of The Lord of the Rings and the Force triumphing over the Dark Side at the end of the Star Wars movies.
There are also great nonfiction examples of triumph. Take Lance Armstrong's extremely inspirational memoir It's Not About the Bike which has helped to inspire many people as they or a loved one fight any serious illness. This is but one small example.
These are all fist pumping victories to be savored.
So for today's Monday Discussion, what are your favorite literary victories? Take a cue from me and feel free to include all media and fiction or nonfiction.
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3 comments:
Not to be a downer, but personally I prefer tragedy.
Wow! Stories about victory are satisfying, but they rarely make me want to cheer as much as tales about overcoming adversity. If you show me the victory, I may have feelings of the details neatly wrapped in, but I also get left with "Now what?" Perhaps because the media is so different, I find it's movies that make me want to cheer, and my favorite is Cool Runnings about the Jamaican Olymipic bobsled team who don't win, but who don't give up. There are other movies like the bicycle racing Breaking Away that cause this reaction in me, too. In fact, the American Film Institute has a fun list of 100 Years … 100 Cheers: America’s Most Inspiring Movies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years..._100_Cheers to help select “view alikes.”
Why is the only book I can think of like this Gone with the Wind with Scarlett saying that she will think about it tomorrow when she’ll rise to meet the challenge again? I can’t wait to see what others suggest!
Mike BPL REF
The Biographical novel "The
Agony and the Ecstasy" about
Michelangelo's struggle to
paint the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel is one of my
favorite books about triumph.
Struggling to create this epic
masterpiece while battling with
a dictatorial Pope, the artist
will not give up or give in and
completes his work true to his
vision. And the result is still
there for us to appreciate hun-
dreds of years later.
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