Tuesday, April 24, 2012

No Stereotypical "Happy Endings" (Extra Credit Post)


 Looking back on the novels that we have read throughout the semester, there is one thing about them that sticks out to me in particular, something that I have not encountered in other literary works. This is the presentation of a somewhat unsatisfying ending at the novel’s conclusion. Rather than tying everything off nicely and providing the reader with a happy ending, these novels tend to push for the reader to think more about what the character has gone through and understand the deeper meaning behind everything.

The first example of this was in The Crying of Lot 49. Throughout the entire novel, Oedipa is on a quest for something. She is not exactly sure what it is, but she is going after it based on clues left for her by an ex-lover who is deceased. Along the way, she ends up coming into contact with many strangers and getting their insight on different aspects of life, following a trail that she thinks is going to lead her to something. She follows a specific symbol, involving herself deeply in this alternate postal service only to end up with nothing at the end of the novel. There is no answer, no reason, no big revelation as to why the search was important, or what kind of meaning it had for her as a character.

Similarly, in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Oskar is also on a search. He is looking for something that he believes that his father, who is deceased, has left for him, though he doesn’t know what it could be or why. Like Oedipa, Oskar follows these things that he assumes to be clues and ends up meeting many strangers along the way, none of whom seem to have any idea what he is doing or talking about. He becomes deeply involved in his search, and yet, once he finds out what it is that he was looking for, it wasn’t anything for him after all. It wasn’t something left behind by his father, and so everything is thrown into confusion once again. There is no answer or reason behind any of it.

The point of this seems to be to inspire a deeper kind of thinking and analyzing of the novels and the events that happen within them. Without providing the reader with a happy ending and a reason for everything that’s happened, the reader has to instead go back and find that reason for themselves.

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