"The End" as a conclusion

[looneylad]

When I first finished reading The End (a few years ago), I didn't feel like it was a proper conclusion. I felt that way for a lot of reasons, but I couldn't quite formulate them together in a way that made sense. Now, after rereading TPP, I have a better grasp of it.

In most finales and endings, in books, television shows, and movie series, the writers try to wrap things up neatly by answering most of the questions, ending the struggles of the protagonist, and having past supporting characters guest star. I realized that in The End, Snicket only did one of those things; by killing Count Olaf, the Baudelaire's could now move on with their lives. However, Snicket didn't answer the majority of our questions, nor did he bring back every past character to give them an ending as well. He pretty much did the latter in TPP, but he did it rather sloppily. That was a big thing I noticed while I was rereading it. Characters from almost all the past books were reappearing the way characters from every past season of *insert television show here* reappeared in that show's finale.

As for unanswered questions, I knew that he would leave things unanswered, but there were also things that I did expect an answer for. I would have certainly liked a more thoroughly explained ending for the Quagmire's, and the Queequeg crew. I would have liked to know who the swimming lady was. And I would have liked to know more details about the sugar bowl.

Because The End was missing several elements of a typical finale, I didn't get the sense that it was the end. It was almost like any other aSoUE book. It followed the same set-up and formula.

What do you all think? Was The End a true conclusion to the series?

[Dante]

I think you should consider a few points about the structure of the series. You said that TPP felt in some ways more like a finale, and that's because it was. TPP was the denouement of the series - the dramatic climax. The End was an entire book devoted to the "falling action" that always follows the denouement - the epilogue, if you like, although that's actually a bit different (it's the difference between the events immediately following Voldemort's defeat, and the prologue set in the future, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). Handler uses the structure of the series to call attention to its literariness in this way. The series actually follows the formula of a typical book in the series - starts off in a fairly low-key and boring way, there's a game-changing twist roughly midway, a dramatic climax towards the close, and then the wrapping-up.

The End mimicking a typical book in the series but then breaking some of its own patterns is another way of calling attention to the way literature functions. Handler didn't want a neat happy ending, as it would require some hugely unrealistic plot points and would've really been extremely unsatisfying. That's why The End disturbs our expectations by spending a whole book on falling action, by shattering our expectations about what's going to happen (by having Olaf's disguise fail, for instance); it's making a point about literary conventions and how appropriate they are.

(I'm starting to wonder if the contrivance of TPP is also part of the point, now that you mention writers trying to bring back old characters for a spectacular finale.)

Narratively, as a matter of mere reader satisfaction, it wasn't too great an ending - but artistically, it was fantastic and bold. Its willingness to shatter the illusion of a happy ending with no loose ends made it the perfect ending to the series.

The series isn't really the story of the Baudelaires; it's the story of the Baudelaires and Count Olaf. But there's one chapter before they meet him for the first time, and one chapter after they see him for the last time; the story was always bigger than them. It's a big world. We just dip into it for a short while; we could never see it all, so we just look at once facet of it.

Edit: Note: This probably covers much the same ground as "Why "The End" was such a disappointment."