Letter to a Friend – Open and Closed Endings

Open and Closed Endings Dear Alicia, How are you? I hope all is well. So I was talking to your brother, Max. The other day and he was telling me how you have decided to come to Leased High School for your high school life! I am honestly so happy that you have chosen this pathway! I remember you telling me you enjoyed English very much from a young age. Well, I am currently taking my 9th grade English course and I thought that maybe you would want to be ahead of the game and know about one concept my class has been focusing on so far this semester. You could use this Information and show your teacher "you dad girl.

First Impressions always last! Navy's, so In this letter toy, I will be explaining what open ended stories and closed ended stories look like and how they relate to readers.. You know, the difference between stories that end with cliff hangers and stories that end with an ending that resolves everything. I will provide you with definitions, explanations and even two versions of the same story. By the end of this letter, you should have a clear and thorough idea of the difference between these two types of endings. So let's get started! A closed ended story is a story in which all tension and major complications are resolved.

It is basically the "and they lived happily ever after" type of story, where we know exactly what happened to the characters. Just in case you didn't know, the tension in a story is basically when suspense is created in between characters. The tension usually causes most of the climax in a story. In a close ended story, the author resolves tension and complications by answering all UN-answered questions readers may have. Here is an example to provide you with a thorough understanding of how this yep of resolution for a story works. For the examples in this letter, I will be using the story "Taste of Melon" written by Borden Deal.

The story is set in the past, in the flashback for the narrator. It probably takes place in the Southern united States because of all the farmers and watermelon growth. It also takes place in a small neighborhood full of farmers who seem to know each other very well. The two major characters in this story are the protagonist (we do not learn his name) and Mr..

Willis. The protagonist is a 16 year old boy who likes to Impress his friends and the girl he likes. Mr.. Willis is a very protective farmer who grows watermelons and Is the father of the girl, Walden, whom the protagonist likes.

The Taste of Melon" Is about of a flashback off 16 year old boy who decides to steal the biggest melon of the neighborhood to impress his friends and the girl he likes. The watermelon belongs enough to share his prized watermelon with the rest of the farmers. In the end, after committing his crime of stealing the watermelon from Mr.. Willie's watermelon patch, the protagonist discovers that Mr..

Willis Is Indeed a nice a man who was saving the melon to fulfill his sick wife's wishes. In the end, all tension between the protagonist and Mr.. Willis are gone after the protagonist confesses his crime and promises to help Mr..

Willis plant and harvest watermelons next season. The major tension in this story was when the protagonist was crawling through the long grass to steal the watermelon. I nee readers n now T ten protagonist was going to get gaunt Dye Mr..

Willis or if he was going to succeed in his mission. It created suspense for the readers and we were anxious to see what would happen. After, at the end, when readers take on a different perspective of Mr.. Willis and see that everything has irked out between the two main characters, we understand that everything has been resolved.There are no complications and everything goes with the flow.

The story ends and there are no questions unanswered. This is how we determined that this story had a closed-ended plot. When plots are not brought too final conclusion, we call the story an "open ended story. " An open ended story is much different from a closed ended story. In an open ended story, a portion of the story is not complete and leaves the readers with a cliff-hanger.

They have outcomes that leave readers wondering about how the story would continue. It basically ends at the climax and there is no falling action or denouement.The tension and major complications remain unresolved. The point of these endings is to either get readers to make up their own ending, or for readers to be anxious to read the next book in a series. To better explain the difference between an open ended story and a closed ended story, I will now explain it to you with the open ended version of "Taste of Melon.

" In this particular ending, the protagonist ends up getting shot by Mr.. Willis while trying to steal the melon from his patch. Mr..

Willis falls out of his barn window and falls face iris causing him to injure himself after shooting the protagonist.Both the protagonist and Mr.. Willis end up in the same room at the hospital. The protagonist ends up needing to amputate his leg since he has been injured major. Walden and Mrs.

. Willis come to visit the protagonist but completely ignore Mr.. Willis. They show him hatred and feel ashamed to be related to a man who has almost committed murder. After giving the protagonist the leftover parts of the melon, Walden and her mother leave without exchanging any words with Mr.

. Willis. A couple of days later, both the protagonist and Mr..

Willis get released from the hospital and gets to go home. Mr..Willis goes home and realizes that his wife and daughter have left him with the empty house.

Mr.. Willis commits suicide out of what the doctors predict as agony and the protagonist realizes that wanting to steal the melon was not the best idea after all, as no one ended up in a good state. As you can see, we have many unanswered questions with this ending. We do not know where Mrs..

Willis and Walden have gone. We do not know the real reason behind why or how Mr.. Willis was killed.

We do not know if the protagonist ever meets Walden gain. The story Just stops as a new problem arises and we do not know how or if it is solved.New tension is created between Mr.. Willis and the rest of his family and does not get resolved.

There is no present denouement. Therefore, it is concluded that this is an open ended plot. Now that I have explained the two different types of endings, I will now explain to you how these endings relate differently to readers. In the open ended version I used for an example, you may notice that the story ends with a plot twist.

We thought everything in the story was going to be related to the crime of telling the melon, but we get a case of suicide, and missing action of Walden and her mother.Most open ended stories end with plot twists to keep the readers interested and to open their minds up with new ideas. Because of this, readers then start to predict on what may have happened further on in the unwritten story and teen nave more unanswered Stetsons. I nee tension Decodes stronger Walt n ten new plot twist and suspense augments which pulls more of the reader's attention and imagination. Unfortunately though, this is not a part of a series so the story ends ere and we, as readers, are expected to use the best of our imagination.

This can sometimes frustrate readers as they had Just gone to the good part of the story with all the action and may have become more attached with the protagonist, leading them to be displeased or disappointed when not finding out the ending. It's always easier to have your questions answered than to think about the answers yourselves. The majority of readers like everything tied up and have all motives explained. Closed endings let us sleep easy at night without having to worry about what else could have appended.Personally though, I think that one type of ending is not better than the other. Each type of ending serves their own purposes.

While the open endings catch our attention and make us stop while forcing us to think about the point or lesson the author wanted to make, closed endings are there Just to keep us at ease. In conclusion, a story ending can help readers determine the purpose which the author had in mind to write the story. I hope that you have learned something new that you will be proud enough to tell your English teacher about next year. See you soon! Sincerely,