preview

Analysis Of Happy Endings By Margaret Atwood

Good Essays

Name:
Course:
Instructor:
Date:
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 …show more content…

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

Get Access