A long time ago, as someone once put it, Charles Dickens did the world a disservice by dying before he could complete his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Strangely enough, its unfinished nature has apparently given it a lot more notoriety in literary circles than one might expect from an unfinished manuscript. This is, perhaps, partially due to the fact that ol' Dickens himself left no notes as to how the story would end, leaving any proposed ending to pure speculation.
Last night, a few of my friends and I went to go see a theatrical performance of this very novel put on by a nearby University.
The play itself was interesting for a variety of reasons, one being the fact that it featured actors playing actors playing characters playing characters in some cases. Another was that audience participation was key in shaping the final product. Once the play reached the conclusion of Charles Dickens' draft, we, the audience, got to vote on who was the murderer, who was the detective, and who fell in love, much like a rousing game of Werewolf or Mafia. As it was, the solution turned out to be, at least for that night, a case of mistaken identity and an incestual relationship, neither of which I personally voted for, but whatever.
Despite the fact that my personal beliefs concerning the ending were not presented to me as an option, I harbored a desire to watch the play several more times to see which different sort of endings the company had thrown together. However, it still seemed apparent to me that the playwright's best attempts at explanations couldn't ever fully capture what Dickens was originally intending. As it was, the mystery, in my mind, will probably always remain just that: a mystery.
Still, though, the open-endedness of it all, the lack of a need to find a conclusion, reminded me of real life. Not every story wraps up so succinctly. Not every tale has a proper ending. Even as you're reading this, I'm sure you can consider many stories in your own life without current resolution. I can think of some in my own that may be eternally without.
However, just because things aren't wrapped up doesn't mean you can't be happy, doesn't mean you can't enjoy waiting for the next plot twist coming up on the next page. Life is a journey, to be sure, but it is also your chance to raise your hand and vote for the best possible outcome.
I promise, you have that power.
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