Today the class was looking at how the Point of Commencement (the very first moment of the story) is a telling and important companion to the Point of Termination (the very last moment of the story). The two points become a fascinating set of bookends that holds the story up and keeps it organized on the shelf.
The Wizard of Oz (the Judy Garland movie) becomes a perfect example. In the beginning we see a girl on a bicycle peddling ferociously down a dirty brown road with the flat grey landscape of Kansas flying by. She is alone. She is silent. She is under great duress.
In the Point of Termination we see that same girl, Dorothy, curled up in bed, surrounded by her aunt, uncle, farmhands, Professor Marvel, and the all important Toto. She looks around her bedroom and claims, “There is no place like home.”
Now we put those two bookends together:
1. We see a girl alone and then surrounded by others.
2. We see a girl in motion and then a girl at rest.
3. We see a girl on the road (literally) and then a girl in her bed at the heart of her home.
4. We see a girl full of panic and then a girl that smiles peacefully.
5. We see a girl trying to get home and a girl who has arrived.
6. We witness a girl who says nothing and then a girl that finds her voice.
Take these two moments and only these two moments and you have the entirety of the story.
Take THE moment (in all of its detail) that was your very FIRST moment of high school and all THE moment (in all of its detail) that was the last moment of high school and – – the four years in-between will be unnecessary. You will have the story. You wrote the last day of high school the moment you woke up to your first day. Don’t believe me? Meet me when you turn in that cap and gown. I will win! Usually do . . .