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Moral in "Happy Endings" by Margaret Atwood
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
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This is the kind of ending that Atwood demands of fictional writing. A happy ending; ethical in nature and a moral ending.
Contrary to what Atwood articulates, fictional writing has been viewed as a way of writing that grants freedom to the writer. The writer can end the story with suspense, ending at just that point that a character is phased with a huge obstacle or immense passion (Nodelman, 1). This is believed to set the reader up into believing that overcoming such obstacles in real life brings about immense rewards and therefore such kind of writing is always motivational to the reader. This is a point of view that Atwood is quick to rubbish by pointing out that all other endings that are not ‘happy endings’ in fiction are delusionary. “Don't be deluded by any other endings, they're all fake, either deliberately fake, with malicious intent to deceive, or just motivated by excessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality” (Atwood, 3).
Arguments for the position held by Atwood with respect to the perfect ending to a work of fiction can be drawn from the societal relationships such as marriages and romantic affairs. These relationships are perceived as beautiful and comes with a form of fulfillment, thus should have a beautiful ending. Life should be easy and relationships should be successful. The ‘happy ending’ adopted by Atwood is an illustration of how easy life should be and how successful relationships such as marriages should turn out. She
In addition, the author seperates and accepts what real life is compared to the fantasy world that is conveyed through the novel, therefore creating the theme of the novel. For example, Goldman reflectes that, “All I knew was I was forty years old and I didn’t mean to be here when I was forty, locked with this genius shrink wife and this baloon son” (31). Most people plan a life for themselves, but often times things do not go as planned. Real life does not meet up to the expectations that the author imagined and hoped for, causing a sense of regret. While attempting to persuade the reader into believing the characteristics of the novel do not occur in real life, the author asserts that the “true love and high adventure” that is shown in the novel is something he wished for and wanted in life, but people do not use swords and tell killers to get ready to die. As also said, true love does not exist either (35). While these two aspects are something amazing to have in life, they are far from reality. The world just does not work like that. As later argued by Goldman, Westley, Fezzik, Buttercup, and Inigo did not necessarily have a hapy ending because they had their seperate issues in the end (358). Although the
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.
In “Happy Endings,” Margaret Atwood manipulates literary techniques to emphasize how each story can have different plots yet end up with the same ending. She makes the case that, in every ending, the characters finish having a happy ending and “eventually they die” (paragraph 4). She infers that it is the contents between the beginning, and the end that bring interest and challenge to the characters, while the beginnings are more fun. The “true connoisseurs” is an important element because it is what makes up the plot (paragraph 21). The six scenarios of “Happy Endings” introduce differences in the beginning and the middle of the plot but result in the same ending. The plot in each scenario focuses on the significance of understanding how
One of the main themes of Into the Woods is the idea of having a happy ending. After the protagonists go through a tough journey, a sad beginning to a strange experience, a happy ending is often the best result. After finding the answers one is looking for,
Being happy in life is an important feeling for everybody. Happiness is shown by somebody being satisfied, blissful and overall in a state of pleasure. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Many characters such as Mildred, Montag and Faber all show different forms of happiness and freedom. Mildred, a cold, distant and dull character demonstrates without knowledge, freedom is impossible and real happiness is unreachable. She seems to be in great pain throughout her life, and her obsession and attachment to her “family” on the television is what causes her to not confront her own life problems. Montag who begins the book having a passion for his profession, burning books, changes quickly. After being faced
Our group established 5 criterions to state what makes great literature. Our first criterion was “A great book must contain a message that applies to not only those who have experienced situations in the book, but provide perspective to those who have not.” A message that can be understood by numerous groups of people is vital to a great piece of literature. Our second criterion is that in order to teach a lesson it must expose a fault in human nature or in society. Our society is just as flawed as humanity is. Acknowledging these flaws is the first step in overcoming the trials of society and man. Our third criterion is centered around the craftsmanship of the literary work. This can apply to a groundbreaking new approach to narration. Or even complex characters and a unique and individual style (Faulkner.) In summary, the 3rd criterion tries to move past just the message itself, and to focus on
At the end, the characters accept their motives, ambitions, hopes and fears which determine their actions
The denouement occurs with each main character with their own page with a close up of their happy face and sunshine and flowers and colours with a happy connotation. The picture book closes with Mr. happy saying that he didn’t know such a place as Miseryland existed and little miss sunshine replying with ‘there isn’t!’
Eventually, in my early teens, I took up reading books such as The Odyssey by Homer, and various other works relating to the Trojan War. As is typical with many Greek stories, The Odyssey presented me with a hero I could look up to, but I was dealt my first shock when I realized that not all books have a happy ending. Quite the contrary in most Greek literature. While the Odyssey does have a fairly happy ending, other books on the Trojan War presented a much different picture. Achilles, another one of my heroes at the time, dies, and the city of Troy is sacked. I wasn’t sure how to take these bizarre endings. I say bizarre because as a kid in this day and age, I was presented with stories that always ended happily. The guy always got the girl. The hero always saved the day. The criminal was always caught. This was quite out of the ordinary in my world. I began to realize that the stories and movies I had previously always been presented, were in no way a honest view of reality. Bad things did happen, and that was life. Instead of turning away from this reality, I embraced it, realizing that while the stories themselves may not be true, the reality of the situations faced in them were.
Story A of Happy Endings, is the ultimate story of love. Everything is smooth throughout the whole story and both characters are happy and live happy lives. We as the readers find out that John and Mary go on “fun vacations” and that their children “turn out well”. This is by far my most favorite story out of all six. I find it interesting and funny that Atwood uses
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.
In the story “Happy Endings” the author Margaret Atwood gives 6 scenarios in alphabetical order from A to F of how a couples life could play out over the span of their lives. In these six scenarios Atwood uses satire to emphasize how interchangeable and simple each couples life is. In this story Atwood uses character, style, and point of view to chastise the desire for the everyday common life and the concern for only the “whats” in life and not “how or why”.
In his essay “Who Killed Robbie and Cecilia? Reading and Misreading Ian McEwan’s Atonement,” Martin Jacobi argues that Ian McEwan dramatizes misreading and warns readers against misreading, but also causes his readers to incorrectly read his novel. Jacobi shows us how easy it is to misread in Atonement and this makes readers more likely to sympathize with Briony’s misreading. He further discusses how the narrative encourages us to believe that Robbie and Cecilia’s love story must end tragically even though there is no reason to do so. Even though the readers see what terrible results Briony’s misreadings have on both Robbie and Cecilia, we are then tempted to make the same kinds of misinterpretations about how they turn out. In his literary analysis of these aspects of Ian MacEwan’s Atonement, Jacobi makes it clear to readers that they are wrong to assume that Robbie and Cecilia die, so if they decide that they have died, the readers are the ones who kill them. While I agree with Jacobi’s claim that the narrative does not clearly tell us whether Robbie and Cecilia die, in this essay I will argue that assuming that Robbie and Cecilia die is a very reasonable supposition and it is a more logical assumption than that the couple does not die. Jacobi himself states that “the most dominant interpretation for reviewers and critics is indeed that Robbie and Cecilia die during the war” (Jacobi 57). Perhaps Jacobi overanalyzed the text to create an opposition that there was no need
The idea of a happy ending, to the common person, is the cliche ending of a story in which the protagonist gets the damsel, saves the world, and survives near death. However, this is a very simple way to look at the concept of a “happy ending” and neglects the grand scheme of things, just as there are more complicated equations in mathematics as one progresses in school, there are more complicated elements in a story as we look to dig deeper into literature. A story that has a complex happy ending is Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the story of a man seeking revenge on his family that has caused him much despair. If we look at this play in a simple manner, we will probably not look at the ending as happy ending as our beloved characters die,
I like to read stories that have good endings, but some of the finest lessons we can learn come from stories with unhappy endings.