1

When Holly goes to Ireland in P.S. I Love You she meets William in the bar who's playing "The Galway Girl", this is the same song that Gerry had played for her. She assumes that this is all part of Gerry's plan and he'd asked William to play it for her.

However, later we learn that William didn't know Holly was "Gerry's Holly", if he didn't know how could he know which song to play? Is it a coincidence? Is he lying?

Improve this question
3
  • Have not read the book or seen the film, but I live in Ireland and can tell you that this is a perfectly believable coincidence. It is, after all, a very well known song.
    – TRiG
    May 28, 2014 at 2:26
  • @TRiG if it was real life I'd probably agree with you but I tend to think that there are no coincidences in films - the hours of filming it takes to make each scene makes it too expensive!
    – Liath
    May 28, 2014 at 6:39
  • I mean that if it was intended to be understood as a coincidence, it's not an implausible one. Clearly it's not a coincidence from the perspective of the writer(s), but if it is supposed to be from the characters' perspectives, it works as such.
    – TRiG
    Jun 25, 2014 at 1:32

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

I always took this scene to be a wonderful coincidence. The whole point of Gerry's many messages to Holly is to push her towards the possibilities of the future. Whilst he had a lot planned, I like to think that he hoped that by moving on with her life, opening herself up to possibilities and meeting new people, she would fall in love again.

So whilst the playing of The Galway Girl is, in my view, coincidental, it could have been anything that first caught her attention. It could have been a made who looked like Gerry, or who had the same job, or who liked the same sports team. Anything could have been a reference - especially since she was looking for them.

But as we later realised, it really did seem to be a coincidence, showing that by opening herself up to new possibilities, Holly was allowing herself the chance to move on - which she eventually did.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .