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12:05 a.m.
2002-02-15
Give Me Closure or Give Me Annoyance
Happy Valentine's Day! Even with my poor (and I emphasize the poor part) boyfriend in Iowa and my wonderful Gabriel in Sweden and not able to stay in the chat for more than ten minutes, I still had a good day. History was fun, I saw LOTR again and ate chocolate chip pancakes (thanks, Sarah!), and Jamie, my roommate, gave me flowers and a note that said "Happy Valentine's Day". That was very nice. But there was one part of the day where I didn't have fun, and that was when I finished "The Handmaid's Tale". *Warning! Spoilers ahead for several books!*
Why do the best books end annoyingly? In Handmaid's Tale, Offred is simply taken away, and we know nothing about what happens to her. Nothing of Luke, Moira, the daughter, the mother, nothing. Sure, it gives us an accurate picture of how this world works, and sticks with the style of the story, but that doesn't make it any less annoying to me. I mean, damn it! I like epilogues! I like closure! I like knowing that people are alive or dead, married or single, childless or fruitful--anything! I would have smacked someone if Eddings hadn't finished everything up in the Belgariad/Mallorean. You should have seen me at the end of the Elenium/Tamuli. I don't know what happened to my knights--Bevier, Tynian, Ulath, hell, even Kalten, 'cause we don't know exactly what happens with him--and it drives me nuts. Sure, it leaves plenty of room for fan fics (Bevier meets a beautiful red head at church, then has to save this gorgeous damsel in distress, for example...*smiles and winks*), but damn it, that's not what Eddings wanted to happen to Bevier, I'm sure. I just don't know how many more of these non-endings I can take. Brave New World, Handmaid's Tale, the Tamuli, Looking Backwards...BAH.
I like endings. I like closure. All my stories close up. Everyone does something in the end. In my most recent fiction, Sarah's Eitre will marry General Calvin and gain a position of power, for example, and Kate's Adele and Alex's Jade will move up the ladder of power, becoming head Advisor to the Council and the head of an Army, respectively. The evil guy will always be utterly destroyed. In the bar story, Moira marries Simon and Jade marries Bont. In the LOTR fiction, we kill Arwen, find the lost ring, and I marry Aragorn and Alex marries Legolas and Kate finishes her days as the proprietress of an inn in Hobbiton, amongst other things. It all closes up. I enjoy it, and so do many others. I HATE TRAILED OFF ENDINGS! Nothing of mine will ever just trail off, I assure you.
Except for this entry, which seems to have done so. It gets the point across, though. Closure = good. Thank you.
Quote for the Day: "It's like Lord of the Flies, except with cricket!" --Dr. Sigel, describing the first "public" schools in England.