Everyday Canvas

Stories and Their Endings

Prompt: A story is easier to understand when the ending happens. This is true in books, movies, and TV. Do you agree?

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Sometimes, this may be true. Most of the time, I figure out the ending at midway, which shocks my husband, and “How did you know?” he asks.

It is only difficult to figure out an ending when or if an extraordinary twist happens at the climax or at the last scene. Planet of the Apes comes to mind with that. All through the movie, I had assumed the astronauts landed at some far-off place in the universe. I was shocked to find out that the planet ended up being earth itself.

Then, in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and also in Jane Eyre, the endings made the plots clearer, so I could figure out why the male leads acted the way they acted.

Another one I didn’t see coming was Chinatown. “She's my sister and my daughter!...My father and I - understand? Or is it too tough for you?” Well, it was too tough for me, and not because I am gullible, which I may be in real life anyway, but at the time, people didn’t mention or hint at such things in movies. Later on, The Empire Strikes Back was another surprise. Now, who’d think Luke Skywalker’s archenemy would end up being his father? I guess Hollywood loves sickly twisted families.

When I was much younger, I couldn’t put up with the suspense in some books. I usually skimmed through the last pages after reading a few pages in the beginning. Then the reading became a much more pleasurable experience for me. I don’t do that anymore. Nowadays, I like rolling with the author’s punches, and if the pace and the excitement level increases after the midway point, I slow down my reading. This way, while everyone reads suspense stories in one sitting, I read them in ten days. And why not? No need to give my poor ticker an unnecessary jolt. At this time, therefore, I am reading five books concurrently.