Kali White VanBaale | September 2019

Volume 51, Number 6, May/Summer 2019

Topic: Endings in stories (considering the happy ending in storytelling) 

 

I. Educational setting

This article and corresponding teaching guide is appropriate for creative writing workshop levels from introductory to advanced, in both academic and community-based settings. Because the article focuses exclusively on “happy endings” in fiction—in stories where the author has complete control over the ending—this article and teaching guide are most appropriate for fiction-focused courses and workshops.

 

II. Lesson objective

A. Students will be challenged to explore the practice and considerations of “happy endings” in storytelling in literary examples and critical essays.

B. Students will be exposed to new literary terminology related to endings in literature.

C. Students will be exposed to various types of endings in literature with examples.

D. Students will explore the considerations of a “happy ending” in their own work.

 

III. Contextual introduction or lead-in

A. Complements ongoing creative writing workshop discussion about endings in stories

B. Introduction (article opening paragraph): “A discussion of happiness in literature is… slippery and controversial, especially when it comes to endings. If people aspire to be happy in their daily lives… wouldn’t they appreciate happy conclusions in fiction? Not necessarily.”

 

IV. Broader discussion points and questions

A. What constitutes a “happy ending” in literature? How does the article define a “happy ending”?

     a. Literary examples of a “happy ending” beyond those in the article?

B. What constitutes happiness in general and how does that apply to a discussion about happiness and happy endings in literature?

C. Is a “happy ending” the same thing as a “good ending?”

D. How does the article define “closed endings” and “open endings”?  

     a. Examples beyond those cited in the article?

     b. How and why do your examples fit the definitions?

E. According to the article, traditionally closed endings provide the reader “aesthetic reassurance.” But how can we define what’s “aesthetically reassuring” to different readers?

F. In fiction, what is the often-criticized relationship between “happy endings” and sentimentality?

G. How does the article address sentimentality in literature?

     a. What is the difference between sentiment and sentimentality?

     b. When does literature cross the line from one to the other?

     c. Literary examples that cross from sentiment to sentimentality? Why?

H. How can a “happy” ending be saved from a sentimental ending?

I. In the article, several contemporary critics and authors are keen to label any happy ending as suspect. Why and how do they feel a predictably happy ending comes at a cost?

J. What is the divide between the reading public’s taste and the critics’ taste when it comes to “happy endings”? Can writers straddle it?

K. How does Goodson position the “hopeful ending” as one possible answer?

     a. How do you define a “hopeful ending”?

     b. What are some deeper characteristics of a hopeful ending (versus sentimentality) beyond the examples in the article?

L. On a macro level, what are the larger considerations for “happy endings” in today’s social and political climate? Does this current climate affect publishing? If so, how?

 

V. Considerations for students’ individual work

A. In examining your personal reading tastes, do you prefer a certain “type” of ending?

     a. Is it important to acknowledge our personal tastes? Why or why not?

B. In examining your current work(s) in progress, do you prefer a certain “type” of ending? Does it differ from your reading tastes?

C. Or do you let the character and/or story dictate the ending?

     a. If so, how do you let your story dictate the ending, happy or otherwise?

D. Goodson cites Daniel Gabelman’s essay “In the Shadow of the End: The Moral of Fairytales” where Gabelman says another potential problem with predictably happy endings relates to story suspense.” Do you agree with Gabelman’s assessment? Why or why not?

     a. Is this a consideration in your own work? Do you see a direct correlation in your story or stories between suspense and the ending? If so, what is the correction or connection? How do you explain it?

E. On a macro level, do you feel the current social and political climate is influencing the tone and tenor of your current writing projects, particularly how you’re ending your stories?

 

VI. Additional Activities

A. Out of class reading assignments for further discussion at next meeting:

     a. Shelly L. Rambo, “Beyond Redemption?: Reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road After the End of the World,” Studies in the Literary Imagination, 41, no. 2 (2008): p. 100.

     b. David H. Richter, “Closure and the Critics,” Modern Philosophy 80. No. 3 (1983): p. 287.

B. Imagine a different ending for your story. If you have a “happy ending,” rewrite it as an open ending, as inconclusive with conflicts unresolved. If you have an inconclusive ending, rewrite it as a “happy” ending, as a closed ending with conflicts resolved.

     a. Does this alternate ending change your overall story? How and why?

     b. To achieve an alternate ending, how much of the rest of the story would you have to change?

     c. Does this alternate ending change the level of suspense?

 

VII. Additional resources

A. Related terminology 

     a. eudaimonia: Greek word commonly translated as happiness or welfare; a moral philosophy that defines right action as that which leads to the “well-being” of the individual, thus holding “well-being” as having essential value

     b. romantique: French word translated as romance-like; conducive or characterized by the expression of love; in literary terms, characterized by or suggestive of an idealized view of reality; too concerned with love and excitement

     c. sentiment: a point of view of or attitude toward a situation or event; an opinion

     d. sentimentality: exaggerated and self-indulgent feelings of love, tenderness, sadness, pity, or nostalgia; in literary terms, overwrought with emotion; weakly emotional, mawkish

     e. open ending: endings that are inconclusive, often leaving the central conflicts of the work unresolved

     f. closed ending: endings that resolve the conflict, though not always in a “happy” way

 

VIII. Conclusion

A. Final questions from today’s discussion?

B. Discussion to be continued at next class meeting with articles “Beyond Redemption?: Reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road After the End of the World” by Shelly L. Rambo and “Closure and the Critics” by David H. Richter.

 

Kali White VanBaale is the author of the novels The Good Divide and The Space Between, and the forthcoming The Monsters We Make. She’s the recipient of an American Book Award and an Eric Hoffer Book Award, and she teaches at Lindenwood University MFA Creative Writing Program.