Short Stories You Have Studied

“Not rounding off, but opening out.” Comment upon the way the writers of the novel and short story deal with the ending in relation to the whole. In your answer you should refer to two or three novels or short stories you have studied.

The end of a short story is as important as the start. Some short stories end abruptly, leaving it open for the readers to interpret while others have a moral. In the short story Holiday by Rabindranath Tagore the end is interlinked to the title, ‘Holiday’. In face after reading the story we finally understand why it was given such a title. At the end of the story Phatik has reached his breaking point and he cannot take in anymore. He has been neglected all along and he acts like a ‘stray dog’. The end of this story sums up what the viewpoint of the writer, as at the end due to constant neglect and rejection of Phatik, he wishes to go back home. He says ‘I was going back to my mother but they brought me back’. Phatik is someone else’s child and by taking him in his uncle did much more harm than good. This is clearly evident at the end of the story, as ‘the doctor pronounced the boys condition to be critical’. The end of this story shows how Phatik has face hatred all his life and he yearns to go home.

Another line of the ending, ‘Phatik was imitating them, calling out the depth in pathetic tones; except that the endless sea he was about to cross has no bottom that his measuring rope could touch’, this shows us how the end of the story results in Phatik’s death. How a little love could have gone a long way. But the last line of the story, ‘Mother my holiday has come now. I’m going home’, has a hug impact on the readers. With this kind of ending we finally understand how apt the title is and how effective this kind of end is as it teachers the readers something and also gives us something to mull over. The ending is definitely in sync with this story, and thus adds more value to the moral the writer wants to bring out. Another short story, The Last Leaf by William Sydney Porter or O’Henry has a very unexpected end.

The end of the story justifies the title given to it and also teaches the readers about sacrifice. Johnsy one of the protagonists is suffering from pneumonia and equates her life cycle with the life of a leaf on a vine outside her window. At the end of the story we see, despite all the characters thoughts as well as the readers the leaf has endured everything and has reinforced Johnsy’s o Sue- “She’s out of danger. You’ve won. Nutrition and care now- that’s all”. Now because of her optimism Johnsy is going to live. The most unexpected twist comes at the end with correlates the story to the title. “ Ah, darling, its Behrman’s masterpiece- he painted it there the night the last leaf fell.” This ending takes everyone by shock as nothing in the story leads us to thinch an end would occur. Mr. Behrman dies of pneumonia to save Johnsy’s spirit. This end has a deep impact on readers and it gives a lot more momentum to the entire story. The theme of sacrifice is finally achieved through this unexpected ending.

The title has gained more meaning. In this story the ending has more of an impact than the start and such an ending highlights the characters, title as well as the theme even further. The short story The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe is a story about a murderer. This story is unusual because of the unreliable narration and start but also because of the ending. At the end of this short story, the narrator is having a panic attack and we finally see the narrator’s madness, even though he begs to differ. We see that the narrator is unstable but also has a human aspect to him, as he is experiencing guilt. “It was A LOW DULL, QUICK SOUND – MUCH SUCH A SOUND AS A WATCH MAKES WHEN ENVELOPED IN COTTON”. This shows us how the guilt of killing the old man is eating this narrator up. “It grew louder – louder- louder.” The narrator imagines the heartbeat of the old man he killed. “They hear they suspected they knew! They were making a mockery of my horror.” Finally at the end of this story the narrator is at his peak of madness yet the reader sees humanity in him as his guilt is causing such actions. He admits to the ‘deed’ and says, “Tear up the planks – here, here! – It is the beating of his hideous heart.” This ending is very different from the story, as we never expect to see the narrator like this. He appears to be a sadist, but the ending in fact brings out what he was trying to bring out all along, his more human side.

The end is a contrast to the rest of the story but it explains the title and also shows a confession. Though he is mad and suffering the end of he story has an impact on the readers.