At first glance "The Ugly Barnacle" seems like an abyss of nihilism, a pit of despair that helps no one. Indeed in terms of narrative, people talk about the importance of what they see as the last words..."everyone died."
What a horrific tragic fate! All life perishes, all dreams are left unfilled, all dignities violated, all potentials squandered, it would seem to be in fact as horrible as ending as you could possibly get. It is perhaps at first glance the least helpful an ending one could possible have. How can anyone be helped by that. Why by anyone standards surely it must be the worst possible state to be in.
Exactly!
Because "everyone dies." are not the final words of the story. If you've seen the tale of the story's creation you will notice that Patrick has a serious expression, with great wide eyes, for the majority of the telling of the story, as if recounted a horrible tale, all the way through "everyone dies." But then he speaks the final words "The End" with a gleeful grin. It's almost if it's a relief.....and in fact when you truly think about it, it is!
"Everyone died.....THE END." That's it. Closure. Finality. The World got to it's lowest point, the death of all life at once, but that's it. There's no more pain, no more suffering, you can't fall any further when you have reached the lowest abyss. You have reached the end. You were in suffering but now there is no more. You can't suffer any more. When you have reached the bottom, surely there is nowhere to go but up.
No matter how ugly you are, even if your visage is so horrible to cause people to run away or even to die at your presence...things will become better. If you have reached your lowest point, if it feels like that there is nothing good left, then the next thing that happens after The End. That's a new story, that's a new tale to tell with it's own sad sides and happy sides. Even if all life ends, life returns as evidenced by the clear fact that he's telling the story to begin with. No matter how bad it seems, the story will come to an end, and a new story will begin.
So let the critics proclaim the story "didn't help at all." I say that in fact the story is the greatest help in the world, in a way that is beautifully expressive of one of the most profoundest emotional truths there is; If the story gets too bad, it'll end. And that's The End.
Controversial Opinion: I think it helped
At first glance "The Ugly Barnacle" seems like an abyss of nihilism, a pit of despair that helps no one. Indeed in terms of narrative, people talk about the importance of what they see as the last words..."everyone died."
What a horrific tragic fate! All life perishes, all dreams are left unfilled, all dignities violated, all potentials squandered, it would seem to be in fact as horrible as ending as you could possibly get. It is perhaps at first glance the least helpful an ending one could possible have. How can anyone be helped by that. Why by anyone standards surely it must be the worst possible state to be in.
Exactly!
Because "everyone dies." are not the final words of the story. If you've seen the tale of the story's creation you will notice that Patrick has a serious expression, with great wide eyes, for the majority of the telling of the story, as if recounted a horrible tale, all the way through "everyone dies." But then he speaks the final words "The End" with a gleeful grin. It's almost if it's a relief.....and in fact when you truly think about it, it is!
"Everyone died.....THE END." That's it. Closure. Finality. The World got to it's lowest point, the death of all life at once, but that's it. There's no more pain, no more suffering, you can't fall any further when you have reached the lowest abyss. You have reached the end. You were in suffering but now there is no more. You can't suffer any more. When you have reached the bottom, surely there is nowhere to go but up.
No matter how ugly you are, even if your visage is so horrible to cause people to run away or even to die at your presence...things will become better. If you have reached your lowest point, if it feels like that there is nothing good left, then the next thing that happens after The End. That's a new story, that's a new tale to tell with it's own sad sides and happy sides. Even if all life ends, life returns as evidenced by the clear fact that he's telling the story to begin with. No matter how bad it seems, the story will come to an end, and a new story will begin.
So let the critics proclaim the story "didn't help at all." I say that in fact the story is the greatest help in the world, in a way that is beautifully expressive of one of the most profoundest emotional truths there is; If the story gets too bad, it'll end. And that's The End.