Whose Ending?

In Crank, by Ellen Hopkins, the main character, Kristina/Bree, is struggling with an addiction to crystal meth, nicknames "crank" or "the monster". The book is written in poetry. The last poem in the book is called Happy Endings. However Hopkins reveals that there is in fact more than one ending, and not all of them are happy. This is done to show that each ending is completely the same, or entirely different, depending on how you look at it.

The first ending shown is Kristina's ending. The first part hints that her ending will be unhappy. It talks of the hardships of being a mother, especially the mother if a newborn. It shows the struggles she has been put through. But her struggles are not for nothing. She shows that she really loves her son. This is done by abruptly stopping the tale of her hardships, and instead speaking of how wonderful her child is.  This makes it a bittersweet ending, but and ending all the same.

Another ending is Bree's ending. The reader would think that the ending of Bree and the ending of Kristina would be the same. However, it is pretty ironic of the reader to think that, because at the same time, we speak of how different Kristina an Bree are. The line between Bree's beginning and ending is pretty blurred. This is because her entire existence is one simple thing: a lust for danger, excitement, and primarily, crank. Bree speaks of crank as the answer to all of her problems. The single ray of sunlight on a cloudy day. It seems as though she enjoys her addiction to crank. Until she says "You can turn your back, but you can never really walk away." This hints that it is not that she enjoys her addiction. It is that she thinks she can't stop her addiction, so she sees no point in trying. This leads to a pretty gloomy ending.

The last ending, however, is almost completely unclear. It ends with "And today, it (the monster) is calling me out the door." Taken literally, this would be Bree's ending -- the monster is telling Bree to go out and buy more crank. But it can also be taken metaphorically, in which case it would be Kristina's ending. For Kristina, the "door" may be a door of opportunity to stop her addiction to crank. This leaves the reader feeling unsure, but at the same time, satisfied. This is because the reader will never truly know what the author means. But at the same time, the reader is able to choose how Kristina and Bree turn out. Ellen Hopkins is giving the reader a rare opportunity to be the author. It is up to the reader to take advantage of this unique occasion.