As we approach the end of the school year, it seems only
fitting to talk about endings. At the end Maus by art Spiegelman we encounter a
part where we see photos of the relatives in Vladek’s family and receive a
brief description of what happened to each of them. From what I noticed, the
overwhelming majority did not have a happy ending. Even for Vladek, his life
was far from a happy ever after. Generally when reading books, I don’t like having
to deal with suspense, so I flip to the end and make sure that everything is
fine and dandy. However, as we have seen often in history, there is not always
a cheerful conclusion. Thus I want to explore an interesting pattern I found
among the books we read versus the young adult books of today. It seems that
all of the books we read this year have an unhappy closure. Billy Budd, Vere,
Gatsby, Tea Cake, and Vladek all die. Additionally, Laura and Jim turn out not
to be a couple, and Tom runs away yet remains unhappy. On the other hand,
contemporary young adult books end happily: Voldemort dies, Catniss and Peta
get together, and good triumphs over evil once again. So why is it that the “great
literature” has a sad ending while the “kid’s literature” has a happy ending?
My hypothesis is that it has to do with realism. As we have seen in history
with issues like civil rights, things are never perfect, and life doesn’t
always end on a positive note. Thus, the not entirely happy ending is more
realistic. The authors we have looked at seem to be making statements about the
world. If the setting is not relatable, then the point would not have been
articulated to the full extent. Thus, meaningful texts cannot always end with a
smile. However, this doesn’t mean that they can’t. Good things do happen in
real life, and thus books can be meaningful representations of the world
without being sad.
I think the different endings in kid's literature and great literature is a great observation. I agree that kid's literature often ends in happy endings and great literature seems to be a bit darker, but I have to disagree with you when you say the endings of the books we read are not happy endings. I think TeaCake dying was a great ending for Janie. Although she loved him, his role was to show her that she can be independent. TeaCake's death was almost like Janie's rebirth. Gatsby is another example of the happy meaning deeper down. Jay had to die to show that James and Jay are two different people. Daisy did not love Jay, she loved James at one point, so they could not be together. I really enjoyed this blog post, especially because it is at the end of the year. Thanks Katie!
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that I really liked about the books that we have read so far was that from these different tragedies or sad endings we can gain something from it and learn something. One of my favorite endings was from TEWWG because while Janie did have a not so jolly life, she didn't let tragedy break her but it rather made her stronger and a better person. I also agree with you on life, life isn't necessarily full out happiness or tragedy it's more bittersweet and I do think that books are meaningful representations of life and how the way we live define us and our identity.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Katie, I believe that even though some people enjoy the more positive ending to a story, and even though it is most likely more accepted, you have to look at the realistic part of a story sometimes and realize that not everything ends in a good way. Now, I have a question, which ending do you tend to accept more andy why? Also, what do you think the author's "like" more, the realistic, or the happy?
ReplyDeleteIn response to you Nick, I would like to think that there should be a balance, I personally don't like books where it sounds like they were written by Disney and at the same time I wouldn't like a story where everyone dies, if the ending was a balance of both then it would be the best in my opinion.
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