Wednesday, December 18, 2013

#27: ENDINGS

Endings are the hardest.



Some of my favorite endings are the ones that end in happy endings. Very cliche, I know, but it's just knowing that everything is going to be okay for these characters that I have attached myself to. Of the pieces we read in class, I think Purple Hibiscus had a decent ending. The person who had been causing all of the problems that the main characters faced was out of the picture, Kambili had grown into a mature young woman, and Jaja was going to be getting out of prison. All in all, it is a pretty good ending for the all the characters I liked, except for Aunty Ifeoma and her family who were rather unhappy in America. However, there was too much uncertainty in that ending for it to be perfect; moreover, I would have liked to have seen Jaja actually leave the prison with his family that day. There was too much that could happen in between where the book left off and until Jaja got out of prison; he could have been shanked in his sleep or died from starvation. I would have liked to know how that ended.




Another ending that I liked was the ending of the Harry Potter series, both the movies and the book. While it was a very cheesy ending with everyone ending up happily married with children, it is one of my favorite endings. I think that I just liked that they all ended up okay, after all the suffering and hardships that they had to deal with during their time at Hogwarts. Whether it was having to dodge Voldemort, who was trying so hard to get rid of Harry. Or the destruction of the Weasley home, Hermione erasing her parent's memory, and of course the death of Dumbledore. It was nice to see the magical British kids get their happy ending.



Samurai Champloo, is a short Japanese anime series about a girl searching for the "Samurai who smells of Sunflowers". She goes on this journey with two expert swordsmen who she randomly comes across, and enlists to travel with her as they kind of owe her. In the end, she finds the Samurai, but he is not what she expected. He is sickly and dying alone in a small shack on a hill. This is probably one of favorite endings, because even though he was not what she was expecting, she was still fulfilled. She was disappointed, but more happy that she found the answer that she was looking for. Oh yeah, plot twist, the Samurai is her father.



The Trespasser had a very interesting ending. By far my favorite of the stories we have read in class. I like how the author brought the stories of the two girls together with the room, and how the trespasser left it. This is a good example of a good ending, because it showed a change in the main character. Also, it resonated in my mind, making me think about it further.



Blood Brothers, a play I saw in London, had a good ending as well. The play was about a pair of twins who were separated at birth. Their mother, a poor maid who already have more children than she could afford, gave one away to a woman that she was cleaning for. This woman had a miscarriage, and she was afraid that her husband would leave her if she did not have a child. Later in life, the twins find each other, and fall in love with the same girl. They become friends, but have a constant struggle over the fact that one was born into wealth while the other was poor, and the they were in love with the same woman. It ends with the poor twin shooting his wealthy brother, because he had "everything" and wanted to take Linda away. While this ending is a sad one, it is one of my favorites because it shows that humans can be capable of doing some pretty horrible things.



Endings come in many different shapes and sizes, and they should be able to do a variety of things. However, some endings cannot be like the others. They should work to leave the reader or viewer satisfied, making the entire piece of work worthwhile. The characters should also find some peace of mind, whether it is through death or something else. At the same time, they could also leave characters thinking and pondering their situation.
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