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This started as just a comment and grew into more, so I thought that I would just post it.
Okay, so that kinda is where I may have gotten the idea. I don't really know. I don't really watch Dallas, never did, but I do remember my Granny being a Dallas-junkie! It's been in my head since I started this thing last June. That is more because I have a real problem with changing what Maude herself wanted. Walter died for a reason in RoI. If we had lived through that war that was supposed to end all wars and seen the destruction of so many beautiful lives, we too mightsee the necessity of it. It would hardly seem real or right if no one died when so many went. Walter's dying somewhat symbolised the dying of the gilded age and wonderland of Anne's world. The most innocent, the most beautiful thing couldn't survive after such horror.
That is why I've considered an alternate ending. Real life doesn't normally have the candy-coating of a dead loved one returning. Of course, that is also why we have literature. As Una Meredith said earlier, it is our escape. It has been my joy and in a way, like my child. Our world is a difficult, hardened place to live. If I can recreate some of Montgomery's magic in my writings, and add a little light into someone's life, then that adds light to my own. Some of that comes from giving the ending that we all wanted in RoI.
Okay, so that kinda is where I may have gotten the idea. I don't really know. I don't really watch Dallas, never did, but I do remember my Granny being a Dallas-junkie! It's been in my head since I started this thing last June. That is more because I have a real problem with changing what Maude herself wanted. Walter died for a reason in RoI. If we had lived through that war that was supposed to end all wars and seen the destruction of so many beautiful lives, we too mightsee the necessity of it. It would hardly seem real or right if no one died when so many went. Walter's dying somewhat symbolised the dying of the gilded age and wonderland of Anne's world. The most innocent, the most beautiful thing couldn't survive after such horror.
That is why I've considered an alternate ending. Real life doesn't normally have the candy-coating of a dead loved one returning. Of course, that is also why we have literature. As Una Meredith said earlier, it is our escape. It has been my joy and in a way, like my child. Our world is a difficult, hardened place to live. If I can recreate some of Montgomery's magic in my writings, and add a little light into someone's life, then that adds light to my own. Some of that comes from giving the ending that we all wanted in RoI.
Well said, Adrienne! Yes, LMM killed off the character of Walter for very good reasons. However, we can all appreciate that fact while indulging in the fantasy of his return as a type of escape from the harsh realities of the real world.
Personally, I think that despite the fact we want to change some of her works, LMM would be thrilled that she has such a devoted following of fans almost one hundred years later!
Walter was, in my opinion, the most beautiful character she wrote. He touched more lives in his short life then most do in their lifetime. You couldn't not like him. And I knew deep down that something was going to happen to him. That is the way it always is. I second what Irish Princess said about escaping harsh realities. We have a thirst for the what-ifs and the imagination to create them in our minds or on paper. I always wondered what it would have been like if Walter had not died and was only misplaced. That is why your story is so dear because it creatively portrays a possibility.
I think that we all tend to overanalyze this subject, and many others in the literary world. Of course, I've spent many hours sitting through courses where that was the prime objective.
Personally I don't know what Montgomery's feelings toward the Blythes were when she wrote RoI. I haven't read her journals. I don't think that I want to because I'm afraid some of the magic might be stripped away.
We all interpret literature in different ways, and I tend to agree with many factions on this idea. I still believe that there was a great deal of symbolism in Walter's death. However, he did not HAVE to die. That is just the path the author decided to take, for whatever reasons. It does make things very poignant. Had Walter lived, he would have to be a very changed man. No one can escape war, especially one so horrible, without changing.
Anyway, what I was initially trying to say was that for whatever reasons Walter died, that was the wish of his creator, and I knew that if I was to write something that brought him back, it would have to be done in good taste out of respect for L. M. Montgomery.
I hate it when people completley bastardize (I apologize) a piece of litereature for their own gain, i.e. The Anne 3 Movie and many others. I still watch it some, but I do not like the way the entire story was changed to suit Sullivan Entertainment's desires. To me, that seems disrespectful of the person who created it.
I hope that Once of Ingleside is good enough to be believable. I know Una of Redmond is. We're taking part in the What-if's, and I think that's okay because we're trying to do it tastefully.
I know I've rambled, but I fear I must clarify myself. I hope that I'm not offending anyone. That has not been my intention. I'm just trying to better explain why I had considered an alternate ending. Basically, I want to be respectful to the memory of one of my favorite authors and her wonderful work. I understand that it's okay to keep the happy ending. I've just had a few doubts or possibly even cold feet. :)