# Garp: do I remember correctly?  (possible spoilers)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garp-do-i-remember-correctly-possible-spoilers/161779>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 16, 2003, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garp-do-i-remember-correctly-possible-spoilers/161779 "2003-03-16T10:38:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Short\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Short\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short_Guy)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garp-do-i-remember-correctly-possible-spoilers/161779/1 "2003-03-16T10:38:44Z")

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I saw the movie “The world according to Garp” yesterday, and it got me thinking about the book, which I read a couple of years ago. The thing is I rather vividly remember a scene from the book that was not in the film (okay, a lot of the book is not in the film, but this one stuck out). I seem to remember that some time after Garp’s brief encounter with Ellen James, he learns that she was attacked (and possibly killed) by anti-Ellen Jamesians (inspired by the book Garp had written), who mistook her for an Ellen Jamesian, instead of the real (“innocent”) Ellen James.  
My question: is this scene really in the book, or am I just imagining things? I know the best way to check this is to read the book again, but I don’t have the time.

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**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garp-do-i-remember-correctly-possible-spoilers/161779/2 "2003-03-16T15:19:52Z")

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I don’t remember either, so I went to google, and found a book report.

[http://huiswerk.scholieren.com/uittreksels/view.php3?id=389](http://huiswerk.scholieren.com/uittreksels/view.php3?id=389)

The question you raised about the real Ellen James is answered at the very end of the report. She’s alive at the end of the book, but it was an Ellen Jamesian who shot Garp. So maybe that’s what you were thinking of.

I didn’t know there was an alternative rock group called the Ellen James Society. And there’s a romance writer named Ellen James.

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**Author:** ![Short\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Short\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short_Guy)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garp-do-i-remember-correctly-possible-spoilers/161779/3 "2003-03-16T16:18:26Z")

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Thanks, \*\* AuntiePam \*\*. I knew Garp was killed by an Ellen Jamesian (that’s in the movie too), so that couldn’t have been it. But if she’s alive at the end of the book, she must not have been killed. 🙂  
I guess I imagined it all along.

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**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garp-do-i-remember-correctly-possible-spoilers/161779/4 "2003-03-16T16:20:18Z")

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Sorry, not in the book. Unlike the movie (where Ellen’s only appearance is helping Garp escape from Jenny’s memorial service), Ellen moves in with the Garps and becomes sort of a live-in babysitter. I believe she has a relationship with Garp’s son.

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**Author:** ![Short\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Short\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short_Guy)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garp-do-i-remember-correctly-possible-spoilers/161779/5 "2003-03-17T15:55:53Z")

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Obviously, I really need to read it again. Thanks.