“Happy Endings” Analysis Everybody dreams of a beautiful life with a partner, some money, children, hobby, job, and death. Love story, revenge story, detective story, mystery story…they all have one thing in common even though the story that is given to us is limited. In the end, everyone dies. In her short story, “Happy Endings’, Margaret Atwood states that regardless of what the person has experienced in life, ending is equal for all people. Likewise, regardless of what the ending looks like, process is the part with true meaning and flavor. The very irony of these two clauses reveals the two-sided world we live in. In doing so, Atwood uses a unique “mutation” of style – metafiction, a conversational tone, same or similar character names, …show more content…
“He comes to her apartment twice a week and she cooks him dinner…which he took them off.” (Atwood 18) and “He doesn’t take off Mary’s clothes…they do the whole thing over again.” (Atwood 18) These compound-complex sentences hint that these series of events that John is experiencing is simply a boring routine for him – something ordinary, blasé, and selfish. In contrast, version B’s Mary is characterized by this ordinary, blasé, and mandatory daily routine, who cannot escape John, “a rat, a pig, a dog” (Atwood 18). This expectation that Mary grabs within her deep heart only makes “Mary [is] hurt” (Atwood 18), but there is nothing that she can do about it because her personality is simply too hopeless, helpless, and submissive, just like her attitude towards her days with John. The short sentences used by the writer such as “…John complains about the food” (Atwood 18) and “Mary is hurt” (Atwood 18) are usually characterizing John’s thoughtless and careless actions, which spears Mary’s tender heart like a bullet. The contrast between his painful actions and words (short sentences) with his infinite selfish actions (long sentences) showcases the cruelty of version B’s John and the helplessness of Mary. Similarly, as the author explains the stories with a similar phrase at the end, “…everything continues as in A”. Atwood does this to show that “happy endings” happen no matter what the process is. At the same time, endings do not matter because “happy ending” will happen no matter what. The repetition of the same phrase emphasizes the “no matter what” part of fate. Mary’s happiness might be Madge’s; John’s happiness might be James’s or Fred’s. Mary might die today, Madge might tomorrow; John might die on the next day, James on the day after, and Fred, ten years from now. The
One of my favorite poems is “Happy Ending?” By Shel Silverstein, and the poem is published in his book “Falling Up.” The reason why this is my favorite poem is because it makes a lot of sense to me. I find it naïve to think that everything must have a happy ending, but in this poem Silverstein states the opposite of that. In this poem he admits that endings are very sad, but then states that a beginning and middle should be happy to compensate for the sad ending. The poem makes sense to me, the reason for it being my favorite, because in it he is surrendering to the fact that endings can be sad, but he hopes to make the beginning and the middle of the situation a pleasant one.
Mary is still in deep love with John, conversely John only uses Mary for selfish pleasure. In here, Atwood breaks away from the telling of stories from third person to sentences of second. “He comes to her apartment twice a week and she cooks him dinner, you’ll notice that he doesn’t even consider her worth the price of a dinner out…” (96). This interruption is to revert back to the main idea of Atwood talking directly to the audience and informing them of how the character John treats and views Mary, which is complete turnaround from the previous Story A which went into no detail into either character’s thoughts or actions whatsoever. Another form of specific detail gets used through similes.
Mary has never been sick since she married Elton causing her family to disowned her and “she and Elton had quarreled the night before” (65). Mary’s husband is off at somebody else’s farm for the day, far from her and at home Mary is sick, alone, and miserable--her mood reflecting the weather. Berry tells us about their neighborhood of six small farms working together in fellowship and genuine camaraderie. Berry builds a setting in which Mary is happy and feels a sense of belonging which he juxtaposes with an insecurity wrought from sickness and doubt. Mary describes herself and Elton as each other’s half and even in quarrels, their halves yearned towards each other burning to be whole. Berry again juxtaposes, “their wholeness came upon them in a rush of light, around them and within them, so that she felt they must be shining in the dark. But now that wholeness was not imaginable; she felt herself without counterpart, a mere fragment of something unknown, dark and broken off” (79). There is a noticeable shift in Mary’s normal attitude as a result of her sickness and this is emphasized the emotional setting. In the physical setting, Berry uses the stove and the fire to limn her emotional setting, as she goes to bed the fire is burning low but she doesn’t have the energy to bring herself to rebuild the fire. When Mary wakes, Josie Tom has rebuilt the
The narrator is trying to get better from her illness but her husband “He laughs at me so about this wallpaper” (515). He puts her down and her insecurities do not make it any better. She is treated like a child. John says to his wife “What is it little girl” (518)? Since he is taking care of her she must obey him “There comes John, and I must put this away, he hates to have me write a word”. The narrator thinks John is the reason why she cannot get better because he wants her to stay in a room instead of communicating with the world and working outside the house.
Happy endings to stories are often times pre conceived to mean something considered good -- things such as a romantic kiss confirming mutual love, a heroic “saves the day” moment, or a grand victory in an epic battle. However, the notion that happy endings only spur from sentient fortunate events is a misconceived one; in fact, happy endings can also be moral or spiritual, even if the final act closes with death. In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, John’s suicide that ends the novel gives him both spiritual reassessment and moral reconciliation as he searches for isolation both for his own sake and for what he believes to be the sake of World State as a whole.
Treating the narrator as though she is incompetent and not capable of taking care of herself, John does not care
...ssion and intrusiveness. John’s lack of having an open mind to his wife’s thoughts and opinions and his constant childish like treatment of his wife somehow emphasizes this point, although, this may not have been his intention. The narrator felt strongly that her thoughts and feelings were being disregarded and ignored as stated by the narrator “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (Gilman 115), and she shows her despise of her husband giving extra care to what he considers more important cases over his wife’s case with a sarcastic notion “I am glad my case is not serious!” (Gilman 115). It is very doubtful that John is the villain of the story, his good intentions towards doing everything practical and possible to help his wife gain her strength and wellbeing is clear throughout the story.
Although the narrator feels desperate, John tells her that there is “no reason” for how she feels, she must dismiss those “silly fantasies”(166). In other words, John treats her like a child and gives her reason to doubt herself. “Of course it is only nervousness”(162). She decides. She tries to rest, to do as she is told, like a child, but suffers because John does not believe that she is ill. This makes her feel inadequate and unsure of her own sanity.
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.
...hung from the church’s walls john has ended the pain for his family and John was hung. All the event that occurred showed that John’s action effect the people around him in a positive and negative way, having cheating on his wife had an major effect on his wife and there relationship he completely took away all the trust she had for him, also form being a very selfish man and only caring for himself to a man who gave him life for his wife so that she can live a easier life.
Death is inevitable; if you want happiness in life, try A. Margaret Atwood, the author of “Happy Endings,” uses six separate short stories to depict outcomes with different scenarios. The author practices the use of flash fiction which adds to the entirety of each version. Though this short story has portions of unusual context, the content can teach a reflection on life. As the reader analyzes all six versions, the gender roles are evident as the story progresses. Atwood starts the short story by introducing the two main characters, John and Mary, and then proceeds to tell a variety of options as to who they are and what happens to them. In Margaret Atwood’s short story, “Happy Endings,” the central theme of fiction provides several different
The vision “she does the dishes” (Margaret Atwood 331) is not a fact that will interest the reader, but through this vision, we find out her reasoning “so he won’t think she is untidy” (Margaret Atwood 331). We learn a bit more about Mary’s character and her motivation that in the first story A. “Inside John, she thinks, is another John, who is much nicer” (Margaret Atwood 331) is a statement that helps us to understand the depth of Mary’s hope and delusion. By using second person tone, the author prompts the story with her own comments, attracting the attention on certain
Unable to “dismiss the possibility entirely from [her] mind,” (Agee) Mary still believes that “sinking ships have lifeboats,” (Flynn) and that there’s still a possibility of survival. It all boils down to Mary’s uncertainty of the state that her husband is in. She is obliged to consider both options: the one where Jay lives and the one where he dies. Of course, she is going to indulge in the one where he lives—to, even for a moment, relax in the possibility of life over death, of innocence over
Margaret Atwood’s novel, Survival: a thematic guide to Canadian literature, discusses common themes throughout Canadian literature. Primarily, she discusses how victimhood and survival are an integral part of Canadian writings. Her ideas can also be applied to writings outside of Canada, such as my ISU novel, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. In Atwood's book , she brings forward the concept of four basic victim positions. The portrayal of the protagonist in Lolita, Humbert Humbert, fits Atwood’s 2nd basic victim position.