In Atwood's "Happy Endings", story A, John and Marry fall in love, get married, have several "stimulating and challenging" activities and then they die. Then the story continues with several different variations of this basic love story plot, however, a twist is added to each one. In Story B, Marry loves John, but John does not love her. John is in love with Madge. Mary then tries to kill herself to get Johns attention, but he does not notice, and she dies. In the end, John and Madge get married and live like the first story. Story C begins will John (who is older) loves Mary and Mary loves James (who is a young free spirit). John is married to Madge in this one, so he can only get together with Mary on Thursday's...and they do. One day, John walks in on Mary and James high and in bed. John's response is shooting them then himself. Madge then finds a respectable man and they live the rest of their life like A. In D, Madge and Fred have all of A, however, their house is hit by a tidal wave they survive and then continue with A. In E, Fred has a bad heart, dies and Madge does charity until the end of A. In F, Atwood leaves more to your mind and your own interest.
All the stories were very similar, in that they all end the same way. The message, in my opinion, that Atwood was attempting to tell was that there are many different ways to the end. The ideal route to the end that we all wish it is to "have a stimulating and challenging sex life and worthwhile friends... have hobbies which [we] find stimulating and challenging." and eventually die happy and together with the one we love and cherish the most. Most of us know that the odds of this ever happening are very slim, plus when telling a story this version has the potential to be quiet boring. Therefore Atwood analysis life and creates different variations that are presented to you which made you wonder, "What if...", and therefore gives you the reader, the opportunity to look at your life and ask yourself that same question.
People push being happy on society as a total must in life; sadness is not an option. However, the research that has conducted to the study of happiness speaks otherwise. In this essay Sharon Begley's article "Happiness: Enough Already" critiques and analyzes societies need to be happy and the motivational affects it has on life. Begley believes that individuals do not always have to be happy, and being sad is okay and even good for us. She brings in the research of other professionals to build her claim that extreme constant happiness is not good for people. I strongly agree that we need to experience sadness to build motivation in life and character all around.
Margaret Atwood’s novel, Alias Grace, nominated for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel, depicts a young 16 year old girl who is found guilty of murdering her employer and his lover in conspiracy with James McDerrmott. James McDermott is put to death by hanging, but Grace is brought to prison because she is of the “weaker sex.” This is a reflection of the construction of femininity and masculinity of the mid and late nineteenth century. A social issue of the Victorian age was women being treated as subordinate to men. Queen Victoria says, “Victorian ideology of gender rested on the belief that women were both physically and intellectually the inferior sex”(YILDIRIM). Women were seen as highly susceptible to becoming mentally ill because of this belief. Women were subject to only be “housewives.” The novel, Alias Grace, accurately shows the construction of this gender identity through society, sexuality, and emotion while challenging it through Grace’s mother and Mrs. Humphrey.
Pure Love in Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood Margaret Atwood, through a series of different situations, depicts the lives of typical people facing various obstacles in her short story “Happy Endings”. Despite their individual differences, the stories of each of the characters ultimately end in the same way. In her writing she clearly makes a point of commenting on how everybody dies in the same manner, regardless of their life experiences. Behind the obvious meaning of these seemingly pointless stories lies a deeper and more profound meaning. Love plays a central role in each story, and thus it seems that love is the ultimate goal in life.
Atwood’s “Happy Endings” retells the same characters stories several times over, never deviating from clichéd gender roles while detailing the pursuit of love and life and a happy ending in the middle class. The predictability of each story and the actions each character carries out in response to specific events is an outline for how most of us carry on with our lives. We’re all looking for the house, the dog, the kids, the white picket fence, and we’d all like to die happy.
In both selections of Karen van der Zee's romance novel, "A Secret Sorrow," and of Gail Godwin's fairy-tale like story, "A Sorrowful Woman," the story lines revolve around two women who struggle with their own personal issues-- in which in A Secret Sorrow, Faye could not have happiness in her life with fulfilling her dream of getting married and having children of her own; in contrary, in "A Sorrowful Woman, the secluded woman had already the fulfillment of being married and having a child, but was now at the point of not wanting that kind of life anymore--and in which how each of the women handle their situation. Faye is worried about how her relationship with her boyfriend will be affected by her inability to conceive children. On the other hand, the unnamed woman of "A Sorrowful Woman" is unhappy with her marriage and isolates herself from her family.
Although their love has endured through many years, it has come to an end in the story. All throughout the story the couple is reminiscing about their life and while they are there are some odd details that are strewn throughout.
Nine patriarchs found a town. Four women flee a life. Only one paradise is attained. Toni Morrison's novel Paradise revolves around the concept of "paradise," and those who believe they have it and those who actually do. Morrison uses a town and a former convent, each with its own religious center, to tell her tale about finding solace in an oppressive world. Whether fleeing inter- and intra-racial conflict or emotional hurt, the characters travel a path of self-isolation and eventual redemption. In her novel Paradise, Toni Morrison uses the town of Ruby and four broken women to demonstrate how "paradise" can not be achieved through isolation, but rather only through understanding and acceptance.
In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, women are subjected to unthinkable oppression. Practically every aspect of their life is controlled, and they are taught to believe that their only purpose is to bear children for their commander. These “handmaids” are not allowed to read, write or speak freely. Any type of expression would be dangerous to the order of the Gilead’s strict society. They are conditioned to believe that they are safer in this new society. Women are supposedly no longer exploited or disrespected (pornography, rape, etc.) as they once were. Romantic relationships are strongly prohibited because involving emotion would defeat the handmaid’s sole purpose of reproducing. Of course not all women who were taken into Gilead believed right what was happening to their way of life. Through the process of storytelling, remembering, and rebellion, Offred and other handmaids cease to completely submit to Gilead’s repressive culture.
There is a old time saying that “you will never know what true happiness feels like until you have felt pain”. In order to reach where you are going in life you have to go through hardship and pain to find your inner contentment. Often times,people who have too much in life always takes it for granted ,because all they have is pleasure and not knowing the feelings of pain and being without. Martha C. Nussbaum author of “who is the happy warrior” states that you have to go through pain to find the true meaning of happiness while Daniel M.Haybron author of “Happiness and Its Discontents” states that pain doesn 't bring happiness,happiness is just a thing you feel when you think you may have enough. To find happiness you have to go through the unbearable process of life.
In Margaret Atwood’s Happy Endings, the main characters, John and Mary lives are explored through many different scenarios that include their lifestyles, lust, and love. In each scenario, the writers placed the same characters throughput each setting but with a different plot. In scenario A, Atwood describes to the reader a perfect couple who fall in love and get married, they have children and live happily together this is the beginning of the "happy ending." This first scenario is wonderful, but I feel like the author wanted to make it dull at the same time. Atwood is able to create scenario A as an unimaginative situation. She is trying to connect the reader with these characters, but in the first scenario there is very little that we know about the couples lives. The only information we have on John and Mary is that their children turn out well and they are devoted to them, they go on vacation together, they have an interest in the same hobbies and they retire. When she uses the term “stimulating
Happiness is a trait that has definitely lost its true meaning due to superficial, materialistic extravagances. Society today has created an image of what happiness entails, and now there are many different ways to try to achieve that image. However, the question then becomes: is happiness, as a result of things like sex, drugs, consumption, real happiness? Is it better to feel fake happiness than to experience the drudgeries that come with living a sober life? In the novel, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, the whole society is built off of a precedent of fake happiness. The people take drugs to cover up their true feelings and individuality. Citizens are supposed to feel content with their lives and the society around them. In both the brave
The structure Atwood used is distinctive because instead of following the traditional arrangement of beginning, middle, and end, she creates six different parts entitled A, B, C, D, E and F. Each part contains an individual plot and a very frank and emotional tale of love. She states what happens in a stoic and emotionless tone without offering any “fillers” or details. She utilizes short sentences such as “They go on fun vacations together. They retire.” (445) that are blunt and straightforward to drive her point home. What point is she driving home? She is trying to show us that no matter what we do in life, death is always the end.
does not know any other way in life except the way things are now for
story, a story she could not have told if she was dead. It is also
What is happiness? Does it have anything to do with freedom? Everyone would like to live, think, and act freely. Whenever we make our own decisions, we learn and experience something new whether it is good or bad, we are still happy with it because it is our free choice. We all learn about life by living it. If we are too afraid to take a step we cannot go anywhere. Every other decision is another risk, and every other risk makes our heart beat faster which makes life more desirable. We always need to look forward in life because we cannot go back in time, and change things that are already happened. Our past plays a big role in our future, but we should not get stuck in our memories if they keep us away from moving on. In “Eveline”, James Joyce tells us a story about a girl who lives in Dublin , and is about to make a major life decision. Eveline wanted to have her freedom, but she was afraid to run away because she had a lot of responsibilities. Was she going to put her fears on the side and let the romance lead her life, or was she going to give up on her dreams? If we want to live a free life, then we should be ready to take risks. Thinking about our future, and wanting the best for ourselves does not make us a selfish person. We all have responsibilities, and we all respect our families, but we should not be living for others. We should make our own decision even if it is going to hurt us at the end because only that way we can find the happiness.