Do you think the ending of the story is appropriate? Why should Allen choose a remedial Spanish grammar for Kugelmass's hell rather than, say, a...

I find the ending of "The Kugelmass Episode" very appropriate.

Throughout the narrative, Kugelmass sees literature as a form of escape. He is looking for a way out of his banal world. �His therapist is honest in saying that he is "not a magician," reflecting that Kugelmass's desire for release borders on the magical and is not realistic. �Kugelmass's escapism is a critical part of his characterization. He does not see any depth to the...

I find the ending of "The Kugelmass Episode" very appropriate.

Throughout the narrative, Kugelmass sees literature as a form of escape. He is looking for a way out of his banal world. �His therapist is honest in saying that he is "not a magician," reflecting that Kugelmass's desire for release borders on the magical and is not realistic. �Kugelmass's escapism is a critical part of his characterization. He does not see any depth to the characters of Flaubert's�Madame Bovary�and Roth's�Portnoy Complaint. �Kugelmass does not acknowledge the emptiness of these literary characters or their own flaws. Instead, he simply sees them as forms of escape, viewing them as a means to an end. �

Kugelmass's illusions are stripped when he is left alone with the remedial Spanish textbook. �Escape from this literature is impossible. �His dreams and hopes of what might be are replaced with the terror in the irregular verb "tener." �The "large and hairy" verb chases Kugelmass. �His romantic escapism has become supplanted by a real form of escape. �His dreams of a better world are replaced with a barren, rocky�� reality. �Had Kugelmass been placed in a world of purgatory, he would still see literature as a form of escapism. If Kugelmass had been placed in a cosmic realm of the underworld, it would have been a more exciting universe than the one he inhabits. However, in placing him in a world where remedial Spanish chases after him, Kugelmass has learned the ultimate lesson about literature. �He has learned that there is a danger to romanticizing it, a peril in using it as a means to an end. �

It is very important to note that Kugelmass is chased by the Spanish verb, "tener" which means "to have." �Kugelmass had spent his entire life trying "to have" something that he could not and failing to �appreciate what he did possess. In his ending of being chased by the maniacal and irregular "tener," he learns that he will never have what he wishes. �Perhaps, a life where he made peace with what he did "have" would have been better than this world. There might have been happiness in just being "regular." � As a result, I find the short story's ending very appropriate.