Your question points towards the importance of paying particular
attention as to how authors choose to end their works and how the ending in particular relates to
the overall theme or message of the story as a whole. Let us analyse therefore the last sentence
of this great short story:
His face was dark grey and his back stiff, as if he's just
had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to
be to me hereafter.
Sammy has just
made a stand for his own personal beliefs and values by walking out of his job because of the way
his boss, Lengel, treated the girls who came into the store in their bikinis. As he walks away,
Sammy looks back and describes Lengel, emphasising his stiffness, as if he "just had an injection
of iron." This triggers off an epiphany for Sammy as he recognises how hard life is going to be
for him if he carries on choosing to follow his own values and principles, which will put him in
conflict with the world's values and principles, perhaps captured in the unyielding description
of Lengel's back. Thus the ending is important because it captures the coming-of-age nature of
this story and the age-old dilemma of being true to ourselves or following the ways of the world
and the consequences of such a decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment