#return of the native

[puppyoftindalos]

big cat is annoyed :(

[eohoppeofficial]

Thomas Hardy, Writer, 1914.

©E.O. Hoppé Estate Collection

[jojoblessed365]

Has anyone wondered about how people love Happy Endings?

So, I found that both Great Expectations and Return of The Native's original ending weren't supposed to end with Pip and Estella/ Venn and Thomasin married. Pip and Venn were supposed to remain single while Estella and Thomasin were supposed to remain widowed. But the changed endings have become canon and are more revered.

And I couldn't help but wonder- would the original endings be acceptable for current audiences? And when I look at how people react to the way Midge and Lenny ended up in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (no spoilers here) or any couple which still yearn for (Jess and Rory, Dan and Blair, Clarke and Bellamy), I don't think so. There's a reason why fanfiction exists (of which I'm guilty myself).

I think Happy Endings give hope. But it's pivotal to realize that Sad Endings are important too- it's for the lovelorn people who look at a screen wishing for an OTP, to let them know they're not alone, that some couples no matter how much they're right for each other, it's their choices just as much as it is fate.

So, what I'm trying to say is...

It's okay if couples don't work out- they are still remembered for what they gave the partners involved. Think La La Land.

Or I'd rather just conclude with a song:

And another:

[waitinqroom]

the return of the native - thomas hardy / bones and all dir. luca guadagnino

[the-hearth-and-the-wild]

A blaze of love and extinction, was better than a lantern glimmer of the same which should last long years.

Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native

[godzilla-reads]

“There are books in which the footnotes, or the comments scrawled by some reader’s hand in the margin, are more interesting than the text.”

— George Santayana

[madamemarmot]

The only way to look queenly without realms or hearts to queen it over is to look as if you had lost them; and Eustacia did that to a triumph.

Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

[scribblesofanaricat]

Once upon a time, I thought my writing tended to wander into the territory of being purple and overwrought.

Since reading Return of the Native, I’ve never ever thought so again. At least not unless I ever devote page after page to waxing lyrical about the exact appearance, aurae and history of a particular place and the exact appearance and vibes of a particular person.

Every single page just drips with detail and description - which isn’t a bad thing in itself; it’s very evocative. It’s just that sometimes reading the book feels like plowing neck-deep through a plethora of description just to get to the Stuff That Happens ;-;