The Benefits of a Happy Ending

I just finished two books over the last few days (The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had to By D. C. Pierson) and in both books the villains win. The villain in "Wallflower" is the main character. He can't seem to escape his demons, after realizing how he can be more engaged in the world, something inside him is unwilling to let go of the wall. He finds friends, love, begins to cope with pain and loss, and still at the end he seems to lose. We find him more tortured and withdrawn than we did at the beginning.

The villains in "Boy Who Couldn't Sleep" are complexly real and imagined. The protagonist brings about the downfall of his best friend after reveling in the power that the friend possesses. At the end, the friend is gone, his remnants and life force found in pills, and the protagonist lives in regret. His hope is diminished and he finds solace in the very pills that signify his friend's demise.

There isn't a happy resolution. These stories aren't packaged, wrapped, and tied with a pretty bow. The protagonist is as confused and frustrated as he was when the story began. He's gone through plenty but it doesn't really seem as if he's fully grown. He has had experiences but the conclusion leaves him disappointed in the decisions he made. They are the stories that leave you wanting more and willing to worship at the feet of the author for the sake of hearing a better ending or a subsequent chapter. You grow connected to the main characters, you want to see them happy especially because contentment has eluded them for all 15-20 chapters.

Then I realize that it isn't that kind of story.

I was sadly satisfied by these darker endings. I get so bored of the good guys always winning. Things can't always work out so perfectly. But now, I get why so many authors and screenwriters create happy endings. Dark endings leave you feeling the like. I am unresolved and it feels a lot like reality. Some times I need a book to let me escape and see the other side when life is a pretty packaged gift. Other times I need to be reminded that we will be as frustrated, confused, and disappointed at the as we are when we began.