A Happy Edning is One That Makes Sense

By ending chapter 36 with "This story has a happy ending," Yann Martel is getting the reader engaged in the story. As soon as a I read that last line, I felt a fleeting sense of comfort, because I like happy endings as well, but then I became a little skeptical, wondering if the author's idea of a happy ending is different than mine. Given what I had learned from the first part of the book, I began to speculate on possible endings. Will Pi's ending be happy because he finds a resolution to loving God in his own way? Will Pi suffer through many hardships and eventually gain wisdom and understanding about love? Such were my questions after finished reading.

Introducing "the happy ending" so early in the story is, I think is a good writing technique, in that it brings the reader into the story. Now I have to go on and finish the book because I want to know what kind of "happy ending" it will be. What Martel is doing is similar to O'Brien, asking for the readers trust, to trust that the author will guide us to some emotional experience, and that we will learn a bit more about the art of fiction.

Martel's writing device is a good hook for another reason. Most people like happy endings, we're raised them. When we become attached to a character are emotions kick-in and as the character goes from one conflict to the next, our emotions build and build until we reach the climax with the character, and then we hang onto the precipice, waiting for the resolution, hoping that it will be the resolution that our character needs. We also want the ending to be a catharsis for us as readers, a purging of the emotions we have built up through the journey of the story. I think the "happy ending" is whatever is proper for the completion the characters change or development at the end of the story. For that reason I am trusting Martel, and I'm interested to discover what Pi's "happy ending" will be.