A Literary Analysis of Margaret Atwood's Happy Endings

In her short story “Happy Endings”, Margaret Atwood uses different literary techniques that can alter the interpretation of the story’s theme. The story starts off with a generic “fairy tale” ending in which a husband and a wife live a happy life together and eventually die. However, as the story progresses, Atwood’s style and tone makes the alternate scenarios of John and Mary give off a sense of uncertainty of what main ideas she is trying to convey. Good opening and thesis.

“That’s what can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what.” This is a quote from “Happy Endings” written by Margaret Atwood. This quote means that a plot is just one thing after another in a continuous pattern. This sentence stands out to me because it is extremely true and this is the first time I have ever heard anyone say it. That is why this whole story stands out to me, because it does not follow the same principles of a plot, it has its own unique plot.

Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” is not a typical short story. With remarkable brevity, it provides readers a gold mine for discussion on the nuances of relationships and storytelling. Best described as metafiction, “Happy Endings” self-consciously draws attention to its artificiality; it is less a story and moreover an instruction manual on how to write one. From a surface level, the author parodies storytelling conventions. Upon deeper examination, however, the story is actually a satire on on the collective psyche of the middle class. This essay will explore the story’s meaning from these two levels.

Happy Endings is an oddly structured, metafictional story; a series of possible scenarios all leading the characters to the same ending. Atwood uses humour and practical wisdom to critique both romantic fiction and contemporary society, and to make the point that it is not the end that is important, it is the journey that truly matters in both life and writing.

Edith Wharton’s short story “A Journey” tells the story of a woman who travels to New York with her husband. During the first half of the story, the narrator describes the relationship between the main character and her husband, even during his sick days and the second half of the story offers insight into the main character’s reactions towards her husband’s sudden death including her interactions with the secondary characters. In “A Journey”, Edith Wharton’s choice to include secondary characters highlights the wife’s selfishness.

Atwood uses the first chapter to introduce the characters and establish setting. She opens up the book by starting to describe the setting of the place in first person point of view from the character. This is effective because the first person point of view allows the narrator to contextualize key terms and explain through her actions and feelings what the new setting is. For example, “We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.”, “A balcony ran around the room, for the spectators, and I thought I could smell, faintly like and afterimage, the pungent scent of sweat, shot through with the sweet taint of chewing gum and perfume from the watching girls, felt skirted as I knew from pictures, later in miniskirts,

​“The Joy Luck Club” by Amy tan is a novel that contains sixteen stories of chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters. Each of the mothers came to America to escape hardships in their restricted native country, hoping that their daughters would live less tragic lives in the land of opportunity. Although the novel spins tales of these immigrant’s lives and experiences, it hones in on Jing-mei and her trip to China to find her half-twin sisters. Each mother of the Joy Luck Club has a unique relationship with their daugher, and certain imperative values may or may not be preserved. One of the many underlying themes in The Joy Luck Club is the attempt of the mothers to salvage the chinese traditions their daughters have yet to practice and understand.

Throughout reading Margaret Atwood’s Happy Endings I was astonished numerous times. Margaret was able to convey many different forms of a relationship and every single one left me feeling frustrated as I realized how brutally true they all are. As I was reading the story I wasn’t understanding to the full extent what Margaret was trying to express until the line “The only authentic ending is the one provided here: John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die.” This nearly gave me chills when I read it as it all come together and I finally understood the meaning of the story and the power of Margaret's words. As I finished the story I was left with a sense of reverence for Margaret as she cut deep exposing how imperfect love really is. I chose to write my response on this story because it was the one that gave me the best initial reaction and I loved the way it made me feel after reading it.

I ended up choosing “Happy Endings” for my essay because its odd layout had challenged me. It made me want to decode it and find out what was really being told through the words. This story by Margaret Atwood is like nothing else I have read before. Atwood herself even refers to it as a “mutation” of sorts, saying it’s a mixture of multiple different genres of literature. She even took joy in writing in this new way, acting as if she liked to puzzle her readers. Atwood even goes to say, “Writing it gave me a sense of furtive glee, like scribbling anonymously on a wall with no one looking,” (Characters 95).

I many times wonder if I am making the right decision, following the right path or what my mission on earth is. “Happy endings” by Margaret Atwood provides the reader with six diverse descriptions of four characters resulting in “the only authentic ending … John and Mary die” (Atwood 515).

Further more into Atwood’s book a big shift happens discussing when it comes to women's rights through the working Industry because this becomes a major issue when women are forced to now raise families on little to no income at all. On page 175 the seen inside of the store where Offered and the unusual man ringing her up for her supplies have a small confrontation about her card not working. The man begins by trying to nicely express how the card number isn’t working, despite her knowing she has money on that card everything begins to take a toll. A brief conversation with Moira explains it all “They’ve frozen them, she said. Any account with an F on it instead of an M. All they needed to do is push a few buttons. Women can’t hold property

Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” consist of 7 different stories. Each one of the short stories are different but have one major element in common, the ending. The stories are labeled A through F, some seeming darker and not as happy as the last one. Although only the reader can decide whether the ending is happy, but it is all the same. In the first story, the two are describe to have everything in their lives to be stimulating and challenging, would this not just cancel it all out. There was no adventure in their lives, nothing unusual or crazy, nothing to look forward to. Atwood wants to show the perfect love story is unrealistic and mind-numbing. Classic love stories are tasteless, no matter what happens in the story you know it will always

Atwood uses “Happy Endings” in identifying and explaining the type of ending fictional stories should have and why. Works of fiction should have a happy ending which Atwood terms appealing to our ethical nature and therefore moral. Atwood provides a number of stories that implies different endings. However, the ending in the first story is referred in all other stories as the befitting ending. Atwood acknowledges the desires of works of fiction to bring out creativity by bring out intensity and passion, but this is only possible in the introduction and the body of a fictional story. All fictional stories have to end in the same way, a way that appeals to the human

The author of “The Story of an Hour” creates a new aspect of overjoyment but using it in a negative tone. It is clear that while Mrs.Mallard is upset by her husband’s demise but is also relieved and now feels that she has gained a new found freedom she didn’t have before. The story creates another feel to marriage; it can beautify one sided or devastate two sided love. Nonetheless this does not indicate marriage is negative, although it is not always rainbows and sunshine either. Analyzing what the author is trying to confront readers with is equally easy and difficult, for this story gives little detail and insight of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard’s marriage.

A treatise of how one should savor and the development and growth of one’s life and follow beyond its structure to demonstrate the true meaning and purpose in life. Nothing is always the same, failure is a possibility of passing. Love has no boundaries and it appears to be the best thing that could ever happen to anyone.Magaret Atwood is the writer of “Happy Endings”. The story was published in 1983, by a Canadian collection known as “Murder in the dark”. Nowadays, some people will put up with almost anything to be in a relationship with another person. John and Mary were together and they both worked a good job. They both got an appealing house and Mary gave birth to two children who make her proud. They both have their