This is The End, Beautiful Friend*

Note: This article contains SPOILERS for the following films/novels: The Perfect Storm, Little Women, The Age of Innocence, Gone With the Wind, Love Story, Romeo & Juliet, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, My Girl, Titanic, Stella, Juno, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Lonesome Dove, Life is Beautiful, Inception, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz and several Nicholas Sparks’ novels.

They say all roads lead to Rome. Mrs. Margaret Atwood must believe this statement since a few years ago she made a very good point: there is only one authentic ending for any story. For her hypothesis, read Happy Endings.

Since not every novel can end with the death of all its participants (unless it’s The Perfect Storm), we have to come up with a spot to end the story before the inevitable happens. But where? At what point should we stop tormenting our characters and type “The End”? They say that a satisfactory ending is fundamental in storytelling. A reader will forgive a slow beginning or even a sagging middle, but NOT a poor ending. Sounds easy enough, but how do we achieve that “surprising inevitability” everyone talks about? How do we please our audience when everyone has different tastes? Is it even a matter of pleasing or making a strong statement about the human condition despite the audience’s expectations? I’m afraid I don’t have a perfect answer (in fact, I’m struggling as-we-type with the ending of my second novel) but perhaps a glance at different novel endings—those we have liked and disliked—may give us (me!) a clue of how to find the ideal conclusion for our masterpieces.

Happy, sad or just plain confusing?

Many stories end with the happy nuptials of the protagonists after they’ve overcome innumerable ordeals and tribulations. Other novels (most of them written by callous men such as Shakespeare, Nicholas Sparks, Erich Segal, Herman Raucher, Jorge Isaacs and James Cameron) end with the tragic death of one of the lovers. But what about those in-between/vague endings where the couple inexplicably part ways much to the reader’s astonishment and heartbreak? Would these stories have had equal success had they had different, perhaps jollier, endings?

Good thing you're happy, Jo, because many of your fans--including this one--did NOT approve of your final selection and how quickly you forgot Laurie!

In The Age of Innocence, why did Newland Archer walk away from his beloved’s apartment without even stopping for a cup of tea after twenty six years of separation?

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” Would we have still loved Gone With the Wind if Rhett had never said those infamous words? Perhaps Margaret Mitchell was trying to give us a clue of the ending with the book’s title.

I still cry when I watch this heartbreaking scene in Love Story.

But Sir William, must both of them die?

What if you’re not writing a love story?

It seems that stories that focus on one character’s journey or growth give the writer more freedom on how to end it. I’m talking about coming-of-age stories or those that focus on a character overcoming a minor or big flaw, such as George VI’s stammer in The King’s Speech, Forrest Gump and his low IQ, Juno and her unwanted pregnancy, Benjamin Button and his reversal growth problem, Vada and her strange connection to death and loss (My Girl). The commonality I see in these endings is that all these characters eventually come to terms with their problem and overcome it (all but poor Benjamin Button, who, let’s face it, was doomed from the beginning.) There is also an issue of “inevitability” here. Juno’s pregnancy has to come to completion as does Benjamin Button’s life. The question here would be: did the protagonist achieve his/her goal and if so, was the end result satisfactory? Did he/she grow as a result?

In My Girl, Vada had to grow up the hard way.

The self sacrificial hero

These are the kinds of endings that leave the audience in absolute silence at the end of the show or book (except for a sob here and there.) We love them, but at the same time they make us lift our heads to the skies and yell in despair: “Why?”

Not sure I’m brave enough to attempt this kind of cruelty in my own writing, but it may be worth a try. After all, it’s these poignant endings that leave an audience captivated. (Ever heard someone say “I love this movie. I cried so much with it!”?)

In Titanic, Jack gives up his space on a floating door so that Rose can survive.

In Stella, a mother renounces to be part of her daughter’s life so she can have a better future without her.

In Juno, the young heroine gives up her baby for adoption because she knows he’ll be better off with an adult mother.

Those twisted minds

We cannot forget the masters of suspense and film noir Alfred Hitchcock and Cornell Woolrich. These guys sure knew how to twist our expectation with jaw-dropping conclusions to their very dark stories. They didn’t want to leave their audiences with a smile. They wanted to provoke thought. They wanted to surprise. How do readers respond to unexpected endings? (Probably well since The Twilight Zone was a very successful show.) Current examples of this kind of ending are The Sixth Sense, The Village and The Others.

In comedy the only twisted ending I can think of is in Julia Roberts’s film My Best Friend’s Wedding, where the main character doesn’t get the guy. (But then again, maybe this was a “character-growth” story?) What are your thoughts on this? Is it acceptable to have a “unhappy” ending in a romantic comedy?

And how about those endings where the protagonist dies and another one must take the lead, like in Lonesome Dove or Life is Beautiful?

How very sad was the day Augustus McCrae left this world.

I don’t get it!

What about those endings that leave the audience bewildered and we need hours of conversation (or therapy) to figure out what the writer was trying to tell us (or a website with graphics to explain the story’s ending.) Click here for an interpretation of Inception's ending. I wish The Ring also had an explanation website!

Did that elusive totem stop spinning after Inception ended? Was the protagonist still dreaming?

Oh, crap, it’s not over.

Don’t get too happy that the blood and guts spread throughout your movie screen are no longer there. When you watch a horror film, the final scene (guaranteed) is a lurking shadow behind the only character left alive or a hand climbing out of the tomb.

Don’t worry, folks, it’s just a dream.

Need I say anything about these endings? Do the names Alice and Dorothy give you a clue?

Now to recap: What do you think makes a good ending? Do you favor happy love stories or sad ones? Is a novel considered more “literary” if it has a tragic ending? Do you mind predictability (good guys always win)? Can you think of a memorable ending that was unexpected or particularly touching?

* To enjoy the soundtrack for this post while you read, please press the play button.

The Doors - The End at emp3