Grapes Of Wrath Vs Nineteen Eighty Four

Wow, that book had the saddest ending of any book I've ever read.
You obviously haven't read 'Grapes Of Wrath' recently!

Actually, I have. I didn't find it to be as sad. I read it with some friends (you know, so we could discuss it, see BookDiscussion), and they tended to think that the ending of GrapesOfWrath was pretty sick. I felt indifferently towards the whole book. In GrapesOfWrath, we had poor people remaining poor, trying to become less poor and being disappointed. In NineteenEightyFour, this man's HolyFire was taken from him. I find that much sadder. I don't find the ending to GrapesOfWrath sad at all. He dies happy. That's the most anyone can ever really ask for.

He does in NineteenEightyFour too!

The final chapter of 'Grapes Of Wrath' comes as catharsis after the previous horror. It's a message of hope about the ultimate, basic decency and nobility of mankind. Yes it's sad, but it's good. NineteenEightyFour, on the other hand, contains absolutely no message of hope. It is unremittingly bleak.

What about AnimalFarm?

What about Jude The Obscure?

Clearly, we need a TheSaddestEnding page.