Happy Endings Margaret Attwood

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 comparison to scene A, John and Mary have a “stimulating and challenging sex life” (paragraph 3). While in scene B, the sex life of the characters is more descriptive, as Atwood states that John “fucks her [Mary] and after that he falls asleep” (paragraph 5). There is a shift in tone between these two scenarios. For example, in scenario A, the tone appears to be so optimistic and positive that it is almost impossible to believe that everything is going well with a smooth ending. With this over-positive tone, Atwood inserts an instance of hyperbole where she repeats John and Mary’s lives being “worthwhile” and “stimulating and challenging” to suggest a fairy-tale like story. Within this optimistic tone, a positive diction is also witnessed, throughout the story, when Atwood mentions words like “remunerative,” “worthwhile,” “charming,” “well,” and “fun,” to give the audience a sense of perfect life. At the end, both eventually

The writer of a fiction text uses plot, setting and characters to create imagery and influence the reader's response to how the author wishes the reader to perceive a situation. This can be done through many methods, which include detailed descriptions of any settings, detail of weather, characters stereotypical of society and colour association.

When you begin every story, anyone knows there will always be three common factors. A beginning, a middle, and an end. No matter how complex the story. It is up to the author or poet to decide how they decide to organize their story. Margaret Atwood decides to break the story into five sections. The first sections speaking about the creation of God. The second

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!’

In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” by Joyce Carol Oates shows the readers similarities to the epic tails of the past. It is to be expected that with the similarities between the story and the epics, that the story does not always end up in just the way the reader thinks they might. Most of today's readers want an ending in which the heroine of the story Connie, ends up getting what she deserves in just about everything. But, looking back to the epic tails almost nothing ever ends in the way the characters deserve to happen. The characters are put through hardships, trails, tribulations, and failings to show that the character is indeed just merely human. However, the journey in which Joyce Carol Oates takes Connie

The irony of each story came to light at the close of the writings. The ending turned out to be something totally different than what it would initially have thought to be, because of how the narratives

Historically, endings to stories are expected to be happy, concise, and with no loose ends. However, in literature there are many stories with gruesome endings or not-so-happy endings. An ending like the one of the play Cyrano De Bergerac written by Edmund Rostand is less than happy and very sad to read. While feelings of self-loathing and inadequacy motivated Cyrano to keep a secret and lock up his feelings, Cyrano’s choice to withhold his true feelings of love for Roxane led to a death and 2 lives wasted. In Cyrano De Bergerac, Cyrano is the protagonist, a man with many extraordinary talents in wordcraft and swordcraft, but an abnormally large nose that makes him self conscience about his appearance and spurs much self doubt. Cyrano is in love with his beautiful cousin Roxane, who happens to be in

Reading this book has been interesting and heartbreaking experience. A Year of Magical Thinking, a journey through the grieving process. While dealing with the death of her husband, she is confronted with the sickness of her only child. This book touches me, and it makes me think of what would happen if my loved one died. This paper is a reflection of my thoughts and feelings about this woman’s journey that has been explored by book and video. I will also explore the author’s adjustment process, and how she views her changed self.

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 “Happy Endings” the main symbols are how the relationships end –be it cheating, age, or health complications. Cheating is symbolic of the relationship being dominated by only one person involved in it. Age is symbolic of both partners sharing or being equal in the relationship. Lastly health complications are a way of saying that fate, be it good or bad, can be involved, or that not everything works out according to plan. These are all related to the idea that by placing a dominant person in the relationship

Believing in the what the author writes is an important fact for fictional books. Grafton creates well developed characters and places that are believable and real; even if they are complete fiction. Thompson Writing Program at Duke University explains that believing in the author’s world is an important fact (Writing Studio, 2018).

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,