There are only three possible endings -aren't there? - to any story: revenge, tragedy or forgiveness. That's it. All stories end like that.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that all narratives ultimately culminate in one of three outcomes: revenge, tragedy, or forgiveness.
Jeanette Winterson reflects on the fundamental endings that stories can have, positing that every narrative can be distilled into one of three themes. The notion emphasizes the complexity of human experiences and emotions, where outcomes of conflicts either lead to revenge, destructive tragedy, or a path of reconciliation through forgiveness, thus shaping our understanding of life and storytelling.
In practice
In a discussion about the different outcomes in life, this quote can highlight the choices we make.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
Deep down, there is in the substance of the cosmos a primordial disposition, sui generis, for self-arrangement and self-involution.
Violence is a symptom of impotence.
I don't know what happens when people die_x000D_ _x000D_ Can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try_x000D_ _x000D_ It's like a song I can hear playing right in my ear_x000D_ _x000D_ That I can't sing_x000D_ _x000D_ I can't help listening
Now man must learn to live without ideologies religious, political or otherwise. When the mind is not tethered to any ideology, it is free to move to new understandings. And in that freedom flowers all that is good and all that is beautiful.
It can be argued that rapists deserve to be raped, that mutilators deserve to be mutilated. Most societies, however, refrain from responding in this way because the punishment is not only degrading to those on whom it is imposed, but it is also degrading to the society that engages in the same behavior as the criminals.
Since my house burned down I now own a better view of the rising moon.
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