When a Story Ending Doesn’t Satisfy

Photo credit: Hitchster via Visualhunt / CC BY

Years ago, when the first Lord of the Rings movie came out, I was so compelled by the storytelling that I decided I would read the trilogy in advance of the other movies releasing. This wasn’t exactly a mistake—the movies are hardly disappointing, quite the contrary—but I was angry at how the movie neatly tied a bow around the ending of the trilogy. It was too eager to satisfy. Critics even joked that the movie had three or four different endings, since it very methodically showed us the conclusion of each major character’s narrative arc.

The original ending by Tolkien was incredibly bittersweet—the good guys “win,” but this doesn’t automatically lead to a happy or tidy ending.

Over at Glimmer Train, writer Toby Wallis discusses endings that don’t necessarily satisfy—particularly those that refuse to answer the questions that are posed at the beginning of the story. He writes:

… sometimes endings are designed to satisfy, answering the questions posed along the way with a denouement that leaves no string unattached. Endings that allow you to leave as easily as you came in. But what if the ending isn’t designed to satisfy? What if it is trying to do something else? What if the story doesn’t want to let you leave quietly? What if the whole point is to pull the rug out from under you?

Read his full essay.

Also this month from Glimmer Train:

Coyote by Karen Malley

Oh, The Mistakes I’ve Made and The Wonders to Howl About by Stefanie Freele