Happy Endings Essay

Remove this space James Nuyen Professor Julie Allen English 125 11 February 2011 “The True Ending” Remove all this space. 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

From the start, Margaret Atwood’s story “Happy Endings” takes on a peculiar and informal story format. The oddly structured metafiction story takes the reader though several ending for a handful of characters and how their love unfolds after their meeting. While Atwood’s story pushes to break conventional norms for the format stories, it also dares to argue vast concepts about fairy tales and their possibility in the real world. Each of Atwood’s endings offers new circumstances for the characters

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

There seems to be this trend with the interpretation of “happy endings”, and that’s mainly due to the cultural shift in media and appropriation as the modern age ushers itself in. As they go, “happy endings” are typically along the lines of main characters surviving of the initial good intention of the story finally coming through. This is quite boring, yet somehow still popular. However, this hasn’t always been the case. There are stories being written today, as they were in Shakespeare’s time;

were actually happy. Although many relationships stand the test of time, the people in the relationships aren’t always happy, and often feel stagnant or complacent. Social relationships, communication, domesticity, success, and society and culture are often the cause of relationships ending. Personally, I feel happiness in relationships doesn’t exist due to communication, or a lack thereof. Margaret Atwood used plot-line in order to develop the theme of her short story, Happy Endings. The short story

Do happy endings exist? When a person is a kid, most of the tales he or she read ends up with the epitomized phrase “happily ever after” or “and they lived happily ever after.” The authors sometimes use this clichéd conclusion to end up their stories in which all loose ends are tied up. This is the part of the story in which the main characters are content, the reader learns a moral message, and the lovers of the story consummate their love despite several factors which may have thwarted it. “Happy

Metafiction in Atwood’s “Happy Endings.” Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” is not technically a short story; if anything, it is a collection of short stories that can be filed under escapist romance. The work itself, in fact, can be filed under metafiction. Atwood’s voice as the author is retained throughout each alternative version she presents. Moreover, the reader is invited to make his decisions as to the value of the changes. Ultimately, however, Atwood uses metafiction to make her reader

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

A Real Ending Happy endings are made for children that can 't handle the harsh reality that is life. For the majority of the readers that can understand this situation, endings are rarely happy and are usually sad, depressing, or just lackluster. Margaret Atwood and her short story Happy Endings point out the truth of stories and show an effective way to write a story at the same time. With the use of imagery, symbolism, and wordplay, Atwood changes the meaning and feeling of her story. As well,

“Happy Endings,” written and narrated by Margaret Atwood, takes the appearance of a story where the reader chooses the ending. The short story includes six possible endings for when the characters, John and Mary, meet. However, each ending reverts to A which ends with death. Atwood uses second person point of view to point out the theme of the story. Moreover, the second person point of view helps exemplify the theme that no matter what one achieves or endures throughout life, life will always result