Blog #3- The Apartment

I found The Apartment to be a clever, amusing story about a young man who is trying to establish himself in life. I really enjoyed certain elements of the story, like the emphasis on Bud's extremely busy schedule with the calendar scenes. I also liked the comments like "man-power wise" and "otherwise-wise." I thought it was a quirky, humorous way of saying things, and I like how it was kept consistent throughout the story even to the end which says, "That's about it, story-wise."
Another thing I liked about this story was the character development. Bud was a great protagonist in that we really go on the journey with him, sympathizing with his situations and cursing him for his foolishness. My favorite character, though, was Fran. I loved how she was not like any of the other women around the building, and for that very reason, all the men pursued her. I was really concerned when she took the sleeping pills, and very happy that Bud was the one who took care of her. From that moment I knew they would end up together, or at least I hoped. Fran seemed like the kind of girl who wanted to be with a guy who really cared about her, and Bud did. Unlike Mr. Sheldrake who ceaselessly told Fran he cared about her, Bud revealed his feelings for her through his actions.
Though the ending was somewhat open-ended, I really liked the story and am glad Bud and Fran ended up together.

-Kyle Deason

1. Why do you think Bud felt the need to consistently lie to his neighbors about his "operation"? At times, the lies were much worse than the truth.

2. I saw that someone felt that the ending of the story was too open-ended. Why do you think Billy Wilder chose to end the story this way? What would be an alternate ending providing more closure?