The ending of a story, whether it is an anticipated or a surprise ending, is a crucial point in any story because it gives a final thought to a particular aspect in a story. What is expressed in the ending will determine what the reader will take away from the story and will always relate back to in the story. It has been suggested by Clark Blaise in his work "On Ending Stories", that "most endings arise in the act or writing," and that the writer does not have any intentions for the ending of his or her story. Some would argue the opposite and say that every writer has to have that power in order to write a good story. Most stories have anticipated endings, where they are foreshadowed throughout the story. A good example of an anticipated ending can be found in "The Husband" by Mary Dorcey, where foreshadowing is used in the very first line of the story and throughout the rest of the text. What is not as common and more likely to be planned, are surprise endings where the reader is led to believe an anticipated ending and then is surprised when the ending is not at all what they thought. A good example of a surprise ending is in the story "Pastorale" by Patrick Boyle, where the ending is a complete shock and leaves the reader with a lot of unanswered questions and confusion. It all depends on the amount of foreshadowing that is used throughout the texts and ultimately what the ending represents about the main characters and how it affects the readers perceptions of the portrayed characters and situations. Many examples can be found that compare and contrast the foreshadowing found in "The Husband" by Mary Dorcey and the surprise ending found in "Pastorale" by Patrick Boyle. .
In "The Husband" the author, who is a woman, is portraying the thoughts and feelings of a husband who is losing his wife to another woman, from a woman's point of view. The title of the story itself insinuates that it is told through the eyes of man.
