(plz read) Am I the solitary one bothered by "The Lady and the Tiger"?
Ok. I like the story. It is really good. But for the ending, near isn't an answer. That really bothers me. I like to know the answers to things. Am I the only one?
And what do you guys think? I conjecture the tiger. I mean, she might have seen these two flirting. She hate the lady in the door, and loves the guy. So to see her love with her "enemy" would basically kill her. And rip her to shreads. So wouldn't she want to rip him to shreads from her semi-barbaric ways?
Thanks!!
Answers:
The very reality that you have written in to Y!A and have gotten replies attests to the power of this little story. The undamaged idea was to leave the climax hang so that people would ask their friends, work-mates and others, what happens when the door open? The Lady... ?
There's no real answer to the question at the end of "The Lady or the Tiger." Either choice is possible and plausible. These kind of clever, "sucker-punch" stories were popular in he early 20th century. Stories by O. Henry regularly feature a surprise ending.
Lol. I hear you. I first read that story in freshman English when I was 14. It bothered me profusely, too. It was my first experience with a wonderful story that had a completely ambiguous climax, and though I had ideas on how it COULD end, I be undecided as to which of the many endings it should hold.
You give it an ending yourself. You did, when you said "to see her love with her 'enemy' would basically kill her."
This is a story that has always stayed next to me (it's been more than 20 years since that first reading lol). My ending has changed as I own.
It's like life: Sure, we love to have definitive beginnings and ending, but things don't always work out that way. The future is springy, at any time it could go in many different directions. You put together it up yourself :)
This frustration has gone on ever since the story was published and will go on as long as it's read. But conjecture about it: if there WAS an answer, would people still read and remember it? The puzzle fixes the story surrounded by your mind. Other people have tried this technique but I'm not sure anyone has succeeded comparatively as well.
One point I'll make: just because she is "semi barbaric" doesn't stingy she's stupid. That is a hangover from the time of the story, when technologically disadvantaged people were thought to be smaller number than human. Just because someone may hold non-modern Western beliefs and not have indoor plumbing doesn't mean he or she doesn't have hunch, powers of reasoning and a sophisticated culture. After all, we consider the Romans quite "civilized" when many Roman practices would horrify us-- freshly think about the "Games" in which relations were pitted against animals (or other people) to the death, when women were chattel, slaves be common, etc.
Now: just because she hates the conception of seeing him with another woman doesn't mean that she wouldn't let him "marry' that woman. Where there's energy, there's hope. If you want her to be a cunning vicious person, then imagine that she let him marry the women, then proceeds to move against her father, have him deposed--dead or alive-- in her favor and consequently reclaims her lover. The woman could be sent away or executed, as you prefer.
My solution varies with my mood, but if she is a clever girl consequently she knows that to have her love die is the end of everything. Have him marry another and he's still alive near the possibility of their reconciliation down the line and she can turn her "savage" instincts toward bringing that about.
Related Questions:
For anyone near a Worthy of Publishing vindication?
Would anyone like to check out the first chapter (and prologue, which is like 10 sentences long) of my book, The Stream Runs Dry? Will you comment? Thanks guys! | Oh sure! What's your username? I'm *~openbook~* on there but none of my stories are public even so, but one soon will. Also,...
And what do you guys think? I conjecture the tiger. I mean, she might have seen these two flirting. She hate the lady in the door, and loves the guy. So to see her love with her "enemy" would basically kill her. And rip her to shreads. So wouldn't she want to rip him to shreads from her semi-barbaric ways?
Thanks!!
Answers:
The very reality that you have written in to Y!A and have gotten replies attests to the power of this little story. The undamaged idea was to leave the climax hang so that people would ask their friends, work-mates and others, what happens when the door open? The Lady... ?
There's no real answer to the question at the end of "The Lady or the Tiger." Either choice is possible and plausible. These kind of clever, "sucker-punch" stories were popular in he early 20th century. Stories by O. Henry regularly feature a surprise ending.
Lol. I hear you. I first read that story in freshman English when I was 14. It bothered me profusely, too. It was my first experience with a wonderful story that had a completely ambiguous climax, and though I had ideas on how it COULD end, I be undecided as to which of the many endings it should hold.
You give it an ending yourself. You did, when you said "to see her love with her 'enemy' would basically kill her."
This is a story that has always stayed next to me (it's been more than 20 years since that first reading lol). My ending has changed as I own.
It's like life: Sure, we love to have definitive beginnings and ending, but things don't always work out that way. The future is springy, at any time it could go in many different directions. You put together it up yourself :)
This frustration has gone on ever since the story was published and will go on as long as it's read. But conjecture about it: if there WAS an answer, would people still read and remember it? The puzzle fixes the story surrounded by your mind. Other people have tried this technique but I'm not sure anyone has succeeded comparatively as well.
One point I'll make: just because she is "semi barbaric" doesn't stingy she's stupid. That is a hangover from the time of the story, when technologically disadvantaged people were thought to be smaller number than human. Just because someone may hold non-modern Western beliefs and not have indoor plumbing doesn't mean he or she doesn't have hunch, powers of reasoning and a sophisticated culture. After all, we consider the Romans quite "civilized" when many Roman practices would horrify us-- freshly think about the "Games" in which relations were pitted against animals (or other people) to the death, when women were chattel, slaves be common, etc.
Now: just because she hates the conception of seeing him with another woman doesn't mean that she wouldn't let him "marry' that woman. Where there's energy, there's hope. If you want her to be a cunning vicious person, then imagine that she let him marry the women, then proceeds to move against her father, have him deposed--dead or alive-- in her favor and consequently reclaims her lover. The woman could be sent away or executed, as you prefer.
My solution varies with my mood, but if she is a clever girl consequently she knows that to have her love die is the end of everything. Have him marry another and he's still alive near the possibility of their reconciliation down the line and she can turn her "savage" instincts toward bringing that about.
Related Questions:
For anyone near a Worthy of Publishing vindication?
Would anyone like to check out the first chapter (and prologue, which is like 10 sentences long) of my book, The Stream Runs Dry? Will you comment? Thanks guys! | Oh sure! What's your username? I'm *~openbook~* on there but none of my stories are public even so, but one soon will. Also,...