In certain kinds of problem stories, there are only two possibilities. The character wins or loses, hits or misses, triumphs or fails. Those stories can work well enough if they are rendered excitingly, but there is something disappointing in them, a predictability readers feel. Though readers’ hearts might race, there is often a sense of being manipulated—will this be sentimental victory or sentimental irony?

Subtleties and ironies appear in the resolution when the problem and the attempted solution don’t resolve themselves around a simple win-or-lose closing. The confrontation in the school might result in an impasse. The resolution might raise other questions, give unexpected insights, or be believable but strange. Henry can’t pick up a knife. He puts a Mozart symphony on the stereo. The puzzled bear eats the record. Life is suggestive, not tidy.