The End?

For me, the most striking two-page spread in "The Fate of the Artist" was from 58-59, for both visual- and narrative-based reasons. As far as the visuals go, I find the aesthetics fascinating--different from both the "strips" and the watercolor Siegrist scenes, and from most of what comes after. The art in this spread seems to become symbolic of an "answer"--the simple crayon on the one hand, and the rich, slightly abstract watercolor wash on the other. We see it again later, after his conversations with his imaginary friends, on page 82. Here, Campbell recognizes that "all of existence is held together with paper clips and sticky tape," later exclaiming, "Look, Monty. Isn't it wonderful!"(82-83.3). But while this section seems to be "Campbell's" revelation, the spread on 58-59 is ours--we have an answer to what "the fate of the artist" was.

Sort of.

The reader could look at the images and text literally (a risky choice with this text, but still). Campbell is on a flight from Sydney to the States, having just made the flight after forgetting his passport, when the plane crashes and he is washed ashore. His "fate" is that of Crusoe (and Jack, Kate, and Sawyer...). Even taking the scene as allegory (a wiser choice, especially given Campbell's interpretation of O. Henry in the last scene), we are at least given an "answer"--"the artist's journey finishes with him washed ashore on the desert island of his own mental isolation." The artist has been lost in his own work, no longer sure of or familiar with his surroundings. For this reason, I think it could be interesting to consider this the conclusion of Campbell's story, and all that comes after a sort of extended post-script. It opens the question of ordering--when you're dealing with this many threads and fragments and trying to build a story from them, how do you rank them in terms of narrative importance? And what is the difference between the natural ending and the "right" ending?