End of Story

“‘Hello, Mr. or Ms. Hunter,’ he says. ‘I’m Sebastian Trapp.’”

This quote from Sebastian is easily read as a courtesy, referring to the ambiguous nature of Nicky’s letters to Sebastian regarding gender and the name Nicky Hunter. It is, however, a clue and an important indication that he suspects he knows who Nicky is. At this point, however, he is still trying to figure out what has happened over the last 20 years—particularly to his wife, now that he sees the person who used to be his son.

“[N]ow she perceives the instruments arranged across the blotting pad beside the typewriter: a small noose in wrought iron; a bronze candlestick sans candle; a viper-green poison bottle, unstoppered, empty; a dagger, slender and silver; a Webley-Fosbery automatic—Simon St. John’s weapon of choice.”

Chekhov’s gun, a literary device referred to by the characters in Chapter 48, is the idea that a device or object introduced in the beginning of a play or book must be used by the end. The classic example is a gun that appears in Act 1 in Chekhov’s 1896 play The Seagull that is used in the final act. The Webley presented must, according to Nicky in a conversation with Jonathan, be used. A. J. Finn fulfills this rule by having Sebastian use the Webley to die in the final chapters.

“‘If you’d stop quoting Agatha Christie—’

‘Conan Doyle,’ reply Sebastian and Nicky in unison.

Diana throws her hands up.”

This is one of many early indications that Sebastian and Nicky share a mutual language that the others don’t, an intimate knowledge of detective stories and writers that develops the theme of The Role of Insider Language in Creating Psychological Intimacy. This shared experience and dialectic allows them to develop an intimacy that the other’s don’t share. The result is that the psychological game the two are playing against each other becomes more intimate and intense. It is a game no other character can participate in on the same level simply because they don’t have the words.

“A beautiful Englishwoman; a faded daughter. A vast house. A koi pond and a grand staircase. A skein of halls, a grandfather clock. A library. An attic—a spooky attic. The house is Styles, where Poirot investigated that first mysterious affair; it’s 221B Baker Street, the walls pocked with bullet holes, the windows braced against London pea soup. It is Manderley. It’s the Piccadilly flat where Lord Peter Wimsey styled himself a detective. It’s perfect.”

Finn links his thriller with classic mystery novels, citing some of the more recognizable and famous names and places. By showing the images associated with these locations and detectives and placing them in the Trapp residence, he infuses the novel with all the significance of the tone and moods these fictional places bring with them. Placing his setting firmly in the fictional world of the classic detective, Finn sets up expectations for the novel as far as plot and how the characters will behave and by referencing these settings, Finn promises there will be more crimes and that someone, seemingly Nicky, will be the person to unravel the mysteries.

“There is one pursuit, and one alone, that engages a man who has lost his wife and son in a single night, and that is resisting the almighty urge to blow his brains out.”

This quote is important as it shows Sebastian Trapp’s history with suicide and foreshadows what is coming at the end. One of the themes of the novel is The Importance of Support During Psychological Struggle, and Sebastian credits his brother’s family with helping him not take the action he speaks of in this quote. That his father and son both try to take their own life is another of the issues raised by the novel, that of generational pain and psychological distress. While Cole and Sebastian (up until now) have had support and still live, Sebastian’s father did not, making the case for the theme of the necessity of support.

“The past isn’t gone. It’s just waiting.”

Sebastian sums up what all the other characters are feeling as they wait for circumstances to unfold and others to confess. Everyone wants to know what happened in the past with Hope and Cole, and they all think the others are holding out on sharing information. In Sebastian’s sentence, the word “waiting” applied to an immovable thing like the past gives it ominous personification, as if the past were malevolent and waiting to pounce. Because End of Story is a thriller, his statement isn’t far from the truth. Both protagonists are people from the past who are waiting to reveal their true selves in the future. Sebastian knows this with Nicky, sensing she is Cole, and Madeleine is biding her time, waiting to see how much the people around her know before she chooses to reveal she killed her mother.

“I think Cole heard [Cherchez la Femme] somewhere—in one of Sebastian’s books, perhaps—and took it to mean that when in doubt, he should find a female to help him. His mama, specifically.”

This alternative interpretation is one of the motifs of the novel. The special meaning between Cole and his mother is seen with amusement by Diana in this quote, but scorn by others. It becomes important later, however, regarding the theme the importance of support during psychological struggles when it’s revealed Hope is one of the only people whom Cole can look to for help and understanding. Because it’s a play on the classic detective phrase, using it helps Finn create the world that is steeped in crime novels and creates even more mystery around the mother and son since the central action is indeed Nicky and Sebastian looking for Hope the woman.

“But Sebastian peels off the left wing, then the right, dropping them into the box. The crinkled body he presses between his palms; Madeleine hears the paper rasp, like a living thing crushed in her father’s grip. When he opens his hands again, the butterfly carcass is a scrap of red paper. He tips it onto the broken wings.”

Because the origami butterflies symbolize Cole’s transformation into Nicky, Sebastian’s behavior toward it shows his feelings regarding this subject. The quote notes that it sounds like a living thing is being crushed, which adds emphasis and violence to the symbol and tension to the narrative.

“[Nicky] likes him all the more now that he’s described what sounds to her (although he doesn’t say it, although he might not think it) like the steady erosion of opportunity and hope. Like Madeleine.”

This quote is important to understanding many of the peripheral characters around Sebastian Trapp, in this case Freddy. For various reasons both Madeleine, Freddy, Diana, and even Simone have not lived full lives, all choosing to orbit around Sebastian and the family tragedy. The result is a gradual fading for most of them, though Freddy attempts to grasp The Power of Purposeful Reinvention.

“Darling Cole, you already make us proud.” Her voice is ringing. “You’re kind, and generous, and sensitive. You have the strength to be yourself.”

Hope is showing herself to be the ally that Cole needs during his psychological struggles. Finn shows in this scene the division between the father whose toast was disingenuous and passive-aggressive and the fierce, loving mother whom Sebastian later honors.

“‘And if it’s been a hell of a life,’ he says, ‘at least I won’t end up like that corpse on the forest floor. A hole in my skull and my child beside me.’

He’s seesawing one foot atop a rock, as though still forbidden entry.

‘Yet almost every day I hear the wolves.’”

The generational trauma and struggle with suicide is embodied in this quote. Sebastian is expressing fears of ending up like his father but also making an excuse for why he treated Cole the way he did. It is a plea for understanding to Nicky who he realizes is Cole. It also touches on the theme of the importance of support during psychological struggles, as his daily fight is real, and having first Hope, then his family, and finally Diana around to remind him to live is key to his survival.

“‘All human wisdom,’ says Sebastian, ‘ is summed up in these two words: wait and hope.’ Monte Cristo. One of my favorites. The original psychological thriller, I’d say. The gamesmanship! “Do your worst, for I will do mine”—imagine saying that to someone!’

‘Imagine hearing it,’ replies Nicky.”

There are many things happening in this quote, the first being a nod to the genre in which End of Story exists, the thriller and its origins. It also expresses where each character is in this moment. Sebastian is waiting to see if Nicky will reveal herself as Cole and enlighten him about his own Hope. Nicky is countering with the revenge and reinvention aspect of the classic novel by Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo. Her reply is a warning of her intentions and a victory of sorts. Her childhood diary showed a struggle to read the book, and her absorption of the themes and quotes shows triumph over her former life.

“Dad grabbed me today. He acidently dislocated my sholder so he took me to the hospital becase Mama was in Berkley.”

This chilling and misspelled quote from Cole’s diary indicates a negative change and warning. Sebastian’s bullying has crossed a line from emotional to physical. The fact that he’s doing it when Hope isn’t around emphasizes the split between them and that his wife had become the only protection Cole has.

“And I ask Fred if his mother might in fact be capable of homicide. And he answers, ‘Dude, my mother is capable of genocide.’”

This is one of the rare moments where one hears Freddy’s opinion about his mother. Simone’s forcefulness is something discussed by all, but here it is shown with an element of danger. The effect is to throw suspicion on her character as one of the potential killers in attempt to get Sebastian for herself.

“‘It belongs to human nature to hate him whom you have harmed.’ She opens her eyes again, finds her teacup. ‘We hate those we hurt.’”

Diana is quoting an engraving in a cube on Sebastian’s desk that was given to him by his father and that ironically hit Nicky in the face, as they had been discussing how Cole kept getting hurt by Sebastian. It is a final psychological justification meant to elevate Sebastian’s behavior from pure bullying and explain how he got caught up in a cycle of behavior. That it came from Sebastian’s father, the one who originally grievously hurt him psychologically with his suicide, shows how tragic generational pain can be handed down.

“‘You think it’s murder,’ says Sebastian again.

B.B. shrugs. ‘I think you’re a tough guy to stay married to, certainly.’”

B.B. Springer is a periphery character with a lot of personality and humor. She also is reminiscent of a certain type of detective often found in noir and thrillers. Her brightly colored hair and gender make her a modern version of the wise-cracking, intelligent but flippant-seeming detective who isn’t above making a pun or joke about or to her more sober colleague.

“‘Would you recognize your son if he returned?’ Sebastian’s eyes snap open so fast that Madeleine steps back. Her father stares straight at the detective. When he speaks, his voice is low but clear. ‘I’d know him anywhere,’ he says.”

There are clues sprinkled throughout that indicate that Sebastian realizes Nicky is Cole, and this is one of them. It also speaks to the fact that his love for Cole is more complicated than it appears. While he seems a bullying monster in the diaries and home videos, his declaration about knowing his son anywhere expresses a contrary-seeming fierce love.

“I didn’t hate Cole. I feared him. I feared for him. For myself, too. So I tried desperately to sculpt him into a sturdier shape—tried to make him stronger. Even when I lost patience, lost my temper, I thought I was helping.”

This quote is toward the end of a passage where Sebastian is confessing about his poor treatment of Cole to Nicky. It makes clear his regret and his need to explain and confess that he loved his son. In confessing so truthfully it becomes less likely he would be the one to harm anyone, let alone his wife, widening the possibility that the culprit is a character other than who Nicky was expecting. While it doesn’t excuse his behavior, being able to understand why Sebastian behaved so badly toward Cole helps wrap up the psychological aspect of the thriller.

“I was fourteen years old when I told Mama I lived in the wrong body.”

This is the first of three big reveals, the moment where it all suddenly makes sense. It is also the beginning of a long monologue by Nicky lasting the entire chapter. By having all the characters stop and watch, it’s as if Nicky is given a spotlight to speak her truth. The monologue-like nature of this chapter makes the drama of the ending fit the long build that has been crafted the entire novel.

“He heard me, too, like someone fluent in a language nobody besides us understood.”

This is the second example of the theme of insider language. Doctor Sam Turner was able to create a relationship with Cole by understanding and accepting what Cole meant when he shared he didn’t feel right in his body. The ability to understand meant Turner was able to answer Cole’s plea for help where Cole’s own father had no understanding of what Cole was going through or talking about. While Sebastian would suppress any of Cole’s natural inclinations or language, Doctor Turner understood and encouraged them, enabling Cole to thrive and speaking to the power of the theme.

“I had spent a happy afternoon with my child […] How could I forget?”

This easy admission is a heartbreaking piece of evidence that Sebastian did really love Cole. Since his confession has been made at this point, the last bits of evidence showing he kept the butterfly stamps from this day solidify his declaration.

“Instead, it’s Maddy who speaks—Maddy who steps forward, clutching a strand of metal in one hand.

‘Because I took it from her after I killed her,’ she says.”

In the rotating final spotlight of confessions, Madeleine’s admission of guilt ends Chapter 94 with this twist. Her confessional chapter operates much as Nicky’s does, and the rest of the characters remain silent as Madeleine recounts what happened for all of Chapter 95. As with the other confessions, this dramatic focus on the revelation fits and balances the buildup of the entire novel.

“‘And tucked into the stitching of the lid was—is—a passport photo: my daughter, age four. She could barely keep a straight face that day.’ He opens his eyes; they’re shining. ‘Every morning for more than thirty-five years, when I decide how to decorate my wrists and person, there’s Madeleine, trying not to laugh at me.’”

Sebastian again proves that he is an unexpectedly loving father, though it isn’t always shown in the best way. The theme of the importance of support during psychological struggle is again raised again here. Madeleine doesn’t realize it, but her presence in his life helped him survive. She becomes so important that he kills to protect her. For most of the text, Madeleine has been insecure about her father’s affection. This final declaration helps solidify his true feelings and create a more positive psychological ending.