"The Comet" but with a Different ending
Story
They cried to each other, almost with one voice, "The world is dead." They sat together in comfortable silence, pondering their situation in the world. Were they truly the last two people on Earth? Had the age-old cliché come to be, and they would create the new population of this new, empty world? This question they sought to answer, and after a night at the Metropolitan tower they set out to learn for themselves whether they were truly alone. The prospect of reconstructing the world did not frighten them because they had each other, and in that, they were comforted.
And so they left, to explore the newly bleak lands and decaying cities. They made their way through the state, first stopping at Albany, where they roamed the streets for hours searching, but came up with nothing. They then went on to Utica, Syracuse, and Ithaca, finding no one, excepting the masses of corpses, rotting in place, shadows of what they had been when the comet flew by. They realized the magnitude of their situation. “We are the last of humanity,” he says. “And we must persevere, so that we do not die out,” she responds.
They ended their journey in Syracuse and realized their need for a place to create this new civilization, and start to scavenge. They split up, her finding a house and him going out to the stores to gather clothes, food, and water. That night, they came together, as if one, to make this new stronghold, from which the new humanity sprung forth.Analysis
This reimagined ending takes away the, in my opinion, dissatisfactory and nihilistic ending of the original story, where the development of the characters was all for naught, and replaces it with them finding their place in the world. They go around New York to see if someone else was still alive, but after multiple cities, they gave up. They understood their role as progenitors of the new race of humans, and as such they set up the means of survival, creating a sort of base of operations, and continuing life.
Great post! Before I even get into analyzing your ending itself, I would like to say you did a wonderful job of imitating Du Bois's tone of voice and syntax. Regarding the alternate ending, I feel that you did a better job than Du Bois himself at presenting the intended message of the story (although he was limited by prevalent racial censorship during his time). Obviously by "casting" Jim as the savior of mankind (without him there wouldn't be any way to repopulate the Earth), Du Bois offers us a prime example of Afro-futurism, but his "nihilistic" ending was quite unsatisfying to me. Instead, your more optimistic ending in which all racial boundaries are cast aside really hits home.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your ending to the story. We always love a relatvely happy ending. However, I will say that ending the DuBois story in this way gives me Olivia Butler vibes from "Sounds of Silence" where the situation is devastating but there's a small glimmer of hope for humanity.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this showcases the difference in styles of the authors we've read from? Your ending changes the moral of the story in which the two characters truly have nobody left except them.
In DuBois version, he depicts the instantaneous decision of running back to the old stems of society. The only change in attitude that remains was Julia's short sentence of defense to spare Jim. So, DuBois critiques that societal norms are hard to get rid of despite the annihilation of a city, while yours offers a story of acceptance and a "better" future.
Great ending. I agree that this feels much more satisfying than the ending Du Bois had. After all that build up, for it to go away in a heartbeat, I found it rather bothersome. Sure, he sent a message about racism and divisions within humans, but the ending as a whole felt wack. The idea of Adam and Eve part 2: Electric boogaloo is fun, with humanity restarting itself not in a completely new world, but in the ruins of their own old one.
ReplyDeleteIf I am to be nitpicky though, unless the comet pulled some crazy moves there should be some portions of the earth that are unaffected, with people still living there.
I really like how you continued with the Adam and Eve idea in your ending. There were multiple references and passages in the story where Du Bois was making comparisons between the couples. Additionally, I feel that this ending is almost more Afrofuturistic than Du Bois's original ending. By having Jim and Julia take up the role of preserving and continuing humanity, you are setting a future where race will not play a huge factor (as everyone would be white and black).
ReplyDeleteIt's also cool to just think about what you would do in an apocalyptic situation similar to the one faced by Julia and Jim, so I think your ending is also pretty fun and allows the reader to use their imagination.
I think that both the original ending and this ending are both solid. Much of the value of the original ending comes from the unfulfilling feeling left from the separation of Jim and Julia, where after a scene where they truly learn to understand each other, they are torn apart by the return of the modern world. This ending is much more satisfying since the characters remain together, and shows how the two races are able to truly unify when societal expectations are dropped.
ReplyDeleteI liked your alternative ending in that it was exponentially more satisfying than what I had actually read. It however takes away the element of racial segregation ultimately returning with the advent of more people. In turn, it displays a new effect of how race is really just a social construct, and it ultimately doesn't matter when most of society is taken away.
ReplyDeleteI think the alternative ending to your story is not only really interesting but I'm impressed at how you kept the tone/way of writing of the original story intact. I agree that the original ending of the story was pretty dissatisfactory in the sense that we didn't really see a conflict getting solved but I also think that's what made it realistic and in a different way. By having the two races not join together in the end, Dubois kind of sends the message that in order for racism to be brought down, it will take this exponential human disaster and ultimate isolation from other people and societal ideas. Obviously that situation seems impossible and therefore the realism of the story kicks in with other people coming back and bringing the previous societal ideas with them. While I do agree that initially it was pretty unsatisfactory, I enjoyed Dubois' version a lot because it kind of shows how racial barriers are created by society and beyond them, race really does not mean that much. I also really like your more positive take on this story but I do think it changes the meaning of the original story a lot in that yours does not really touch on the unrealistic qualities.
ReplyDeleteAs with everyone who commented before me, I think that this ending is overall pretty good and well-written, and that you do capture the style of DuBois. While I think that the actual ending is more realistic and amazingly emphasizes how ingrained racism is in society, I really liked this idealistic ending. Idealism is nice and sometimes is needed, instead of a nihilistic/depressive take on reality. In addition, I enjoy the Adam-and-Eve motif you created. Overall, great job, Matatov! Nice short and sweet blog post.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your creativity in constructing a different ending to “The Comet”! I feel that this alteration leads there to be an entirely different take away/moral from the original work. While the first edition explores race in a post apocalypse, unsatisfyingly ending on a return to the order of things prior to the comet, your alternate ending changes the narrative on race. Where the original story says that race persists indefinitely, the ending you wrote speaks optimistically that, with time, a new age will dawn where race does not affect people’s perception of one another. This would be interesting to see explored in a full sized literary work. What culture would be preserved and what culture would die with the pre-comet world? Excellent work Daniel!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this ending! Like you said, DuBois ends his story in a relatively unsatisfactory way, where the growth that the characters had been experiencing comes to a screeching halt. I'm glad you explored this other option, because in my opinion, it'd make for a really interesting plot and a much less abrupt ending. I think your idea for an ending is a complex one to think about - would they actually survive by themselves or would it be too difficult? Like people have said before, the language and tone you use is really similar to DuBois as well, making it seem like this ending could fit nicely into the original story.
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