Happy Endings

Taylor Hayne

201304542

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The truth about “Happy Endings”

In Margaret Atwoods Happy Endings the narrator introduces 6 different alternative storylines each with there own version of a happy ending. The stories are labelled A-F, throughout the stories the author is challenging the idea of a “happy ending.” Throughout our culture whether it be in movies, books, or bedtime stories we are told about happy endings, a story in which a man and women meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after. I believe the author is challenging the idea of a fairytale ending, the typical gender roles in a story, and at the same time challenging us to question typical literary convention in a story. The narrator starts out by saying if you want a happy ending try A, leading us to believe there are more sinister events to come. In story A we are introduced to two of our main characters John and Mary, this is the story the author believes you should follow if you want a “happy ending.” in this version John and Mary meet, fall in love, get married, have children, retire, and then die. Mary and John are the definition of flat characters, as throughout the story there is little to no character growth. Atwood also makes this version boring it could be considered comedic, for example she uses terms such as “challenging and stimulating” which neither challenges nor stimulates the reader. This is the story a reader would typically want want to hear, as it involves man meeting a women and living a fairytale life. However, this version offers very little detail and no climax making it uninteresting for the reader. The next few stories are a lot messier than version A, and not what the author would recommend if you want a happy ending. Version B is not your typical story of man and women falling in love, instead John and Mary meet, but Mary is the only one who falls in love. This version is a lot
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more painful to witness because as the reader we can see that John not treat Mary well, which is shown when the narrator says “he merely uses her body for selfish pleasure and ego gratification of tepid kind” and “he doesnt even consider her worth the price of a dinner out.” In this story John and Mary are having an affair, but we can see that John has no special feelings for Mary. This version is much more interesting than than story A as the author starts to use second person to show Marys hope and delusions for her relationship with John. For example the narrator says “inside John, she thinks is another John, who is much nicer. This other John will emerge from a butterfly from a cocoon, a jack from a box, a pit from a prune, if the first John is only squeezed enough.” The use of second person helps to make this version much more interesting, as it helps us to understand and add more depth to the characters. In a typical fairytale version B would end with John realizing that he truley is in love with Mary, and coming to her rescue after she overdoses. Instead, Mary dies John marries Madge and everything continues as in story A. In scenario C John loves Mary but shes does not love him, John is twice Marys age, Mary only sleeps with him because she feels sorry for him, shes really in love with James a wild younger man with a motorcycle collection who is not quite ready to settle down yet. John is married to Madge and together they have a life as presented in A. The narrator leads us to believe that Mary is Johns midlife crisis when she says “John on the contrary settled down long ago: this is what is bothering him.” In the end John walks in on James and Mary in bed, he shoots himself, Madge finds another man, James and Marys get married, and everything continues as it does in A. In versions D and E things are going much like they do in A. Fred and Madge are in love and have no problems until a tidal wave hits there home. The tidal wave causes a lot of damage but fortunately Madge and Fred are able to escape unharmed. E is a continuation of D which we learn that Fred is suffering from heart problems, Madge stays devoted to Fred until his heart disease eventually takes his life. Prior to his death Madge devotes her life to charity work. The narrator also says that if it
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makes the reader feel better it can be “Madge, cancer, guilty and confused, and bird watching.” I think what Atwood means by this is Madge is not supposed to be going on as is shes okay devoting her life to charity, work shes supposed to be a distraught widow rivetingly over her departed husband, and all she can manage to do it watch birds. Also, the purpose of these versions is to show that is doesn’t matter whether it is cancer or a tidal wave, in real life things are not perfect no dealing overcoming obstacles and dealing with trajety is all apart of life. No matter who you are or where you are from nothing will ever go as smoothy as it does in A. The final version F the author leaves it open to the readers interpretation, the author is suggesting that not matter what happens, or how you choose to live your life everything ends as it does in A, because is life only one thing is in life certain death. The author shows is this when she says “If you thinks this is all to bourgeois make John a revolutionary and Mary a counterespionage agent and see how far that gets you. Remember this is Canada you still end up with A.” The author is saying that you could go through letters up to F and beyond, no matter what happens the only ending that is certain happy or not, is death. When I was younger I used to think that life was like a Disney movie, man and women were supposed to meet, fall madly in love and go riding off into the sunset. What Disney does not tell you is the complications that can occur when getting married, buying a house, and eventually having kids.

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Works Cited Woodson, Zach. "Margaret Atwood Happy Endings. N.p., 16 Mar. 2009. Web. 1 Oct. 2014.
Aaron. "Anthology of Ideas." Anthology of Ideas. N.p., 24 Nov. 2006. Web. 1 Oct. 2014.

"Happy Endings." Encyclopedia.com. N.p., 2001. Web. 1 Oct. 2014.

Bernardo, Karen. "An Analysis of Margaret Atwood 's Happy Endings." Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood. N.p., 2002-2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2014

Smith, Ben. "Ben 's Blog." : Interpretation of "Happy Endings" by Margaret Atwood. N.p., 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
"Interpretation." Happyendingsss. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.
Sustana, Catherine. "What 's the Point of Telling Stories?" About. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014

Cited: Woodson, Zach. "Margaret Atwood Happy Endings. N.p., 16 Mar. 2009. Web. 1 Oct. 2014. Aaron. "Anthology of Ideas." Anthology of Ideas. N.p., 24 Nov. 2006. Web. 1 Oct. 2014. "Happy Endings." Encyclopedia.com. N.p., 2001. Web. 1 Oct. 2014. Bernardo, Karen. "An Analysis of Margaret Atwood 's Happy Endings." Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood. N.p., 2002-2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2014 Smith, Ben. "Ben 's Blog." : Interpretation of "Happy Endings" by Margaret Atwood. N.p., 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 11 Oct. 2014. "Interpretation." Happyendingsss. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. Sustana, Catherine. "What 's the Point of Telling Stories?" About. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014