Happy Endings Conflicts

The conflict in a character’s life is what makes a narrative worth reading. Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” proves this by setting up four plots with similar conflicts and characters that contrast with the beginning story, the life of a content couple who face no difficulties or excitements in life. The combination of structure, characters, and conflict create an overall unity in the divided work to prove the importance of tragedy, mania, loss, and growth. If Holden Caulfield applied himself in school and had a perfect family and social life, The Catcher in the Rye would be much less successful. The order of the narratives provides a flow that allows the stories to stand separately but are undeniably unified. In A, the happy ending, John
It is used again in C with another married couple, John and Madge. Both couples also are said to have two children, a charming house, and hobbies they enjoy (302). However, C diverges from the uninspired story of A when John’s character is slightly modified. The John from C decides to write a stronger narrative for his life by breaking free from his loveless marriage held together by commitment and finds his passion when he falls in love with another woman. While this John did die sooner and more tragically than the other, he had a richer life. “Stimulating and challenging” also works as a paradox in the text. The dull, domestic situations the phrase is inappropriately written into provokes the opposite reaction from the
The relatability or at least familiarity allows the reader to easily see themselves as John or Mary. After reading through the different character’s narratives, the reader is confronted by the narrator and is told, “The only one authentic ending is the one provided here: John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die” (303). Death does not discriminate between John who has a steady respectable job and James who rides a motorcycle and often gets high (302), or Madge who is in a loving relationship (302) and Mary who means nothing to the one she loves (301). As we read “Happy Endings” we have to face the fact that we are in the story as well and will “continue as in A” when our narrative comes to a close. The narrator seems to recognize the response, and the last paragraph seems like a comfort for our benefit. The stories of our lives are the same as the characters, but the narrator makes it clear that every story ends in death but says, “true connoisseurs, however, are known to favor the stretch in between, since it's the hardest to do anything with” (303). This reminds us to not worry about when our time is up, but to focus on making our lives a narrative worth