Katherine Paterson's Happy or Unhappy Ending
Happiness seems different for all the characters, for Gilly happiness
isn't something she has been able to experience yet. This is due to
the fact she does not live with her mother and does not know her
mother very well. At the beginning Gilly is very unhappy. Moving from
one foster home to another is affecting her badly. She believes that
happiness is being with her mother, but her theory soon changes. Gilly
realises that being with her mother is not what she wants, being with
Maime Trotter however is. Gilly wants to leave Nonnie (Gillys
Grandmother) and move back with Maime Trotter. Happiness for William
Ernest and Maime Trotter is what they are living in now. Nonnie is
very happy when we meet her and she seems happy all the time. The
story has an intriguing plot. In the beginning, Gilly comes across as
a bully, but we soon see she is emotionally scarred and deep down a
lonely, sad girl. Her life with Trotter starts off badly, but they end
up getting on well. Gillys Nan introduces herself and secretly pays
Gillys mum to visit her. Gilly goes to live with Nonnie, but in the
end chapter tells Trotter she wants to come back.
Galadriel Hopkins is an unhappy child. Her need to know her mother is
very strong and takes over her life. When the story begins, Gilly is
very unhappy. She is eleven years old and unkempt. In the opening
chapter we see her first meeting Maime Trotter and her opinion of her
is not a nice one. Gilly thinks that the only way she can be happy is
to find her mother and live with her. As she does not live with her
mother she feels the need to rebel so that The Social Services will
send her to her mother. During the story, certain events affect...
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...ings or people a
chance. Gilly didn't give William Ernest or Maime Trotter a chance,
she immediately thought they weren't up to her standards, but after a
while she realised they were just like her. My views of the characters
did change during the story. At the start, I really did not like
Gilly; I thought she was really mean and a horrible person. As the
book continued though, I realised she was a lonely, hurt person who
was rebellious for a reason. She needed love. I thought the ending was
a happy one because Gilly wants to come home rather than staying with
Nonnie and her mother. All those years she wanted to be with her
mother and when they actually met, she didn't like her. She just
wanted Maime Trotter. I do hope that Gilly goes back to live with
Maime Trotter, because I think that Maime Trotter is the only person
Gilly has ever loved in her life.
The book I choose for the book talk is “Dead and gone” written by Norah McClintock, this book talks about a murder mystery of Tricey Howard. The main character of the story is Mike, an orphan whose parents got killed in a car crash. He lives with his foster father named John Riel, who was once a police officer. During a swim meet, Mike see Mr.Henderson is staring at a girl name Emily without stopping. Then he informs Emily about what happened in the community center. However, as return Emily blackmails Mike to investigate Mr. Henderson. During the investigation, Mike finds nothing suspicious, but realize Emily is the daughter of Tricey Howard. Tricey Howard was murdered years ago, but the police still haven’t find the real killer. At the meantime,
thinks that she is talking nonsense, but he realizes that he truly is not happy.
to. With all her heart, she longs for a true friend that she can tell her
Does Amy’s beauty and mystique represent something deeper? In Katherine Anne Porter’s “Old Mortality,” there is an obvious obsession amongst most of the novella’s characters with Amy’s beauty. Most of the female characters throughout the novella are often compared to Amy by her family’s elders. These characters are often described as coming close to embodying Amy’s beauty (or not at all), but it is generally recognized that no one will ever be able to be quite as beautiful as Amy was. While there are a few descriptions of Amy’s physical appearance throughout the novella, there seems to be more of a focus on her careless behavior. Many of the novella’s central figures identify this kind of behavior as something that contributed to her charm
toward one goal: to achieve true love. Her first two failed marriages rob her of innocence, but
go to the nunnery so that she can be safe, and away from all his troubles that
to support and provide for her - her future is devoid of all hope. The
Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” is an Author’s telling of societal beliefs that encompass the stereotypical gender roles and the pursuit of love in the middle class with dreams of romance and marriage. Atwood writes about the predictable ways in which many life stories are concluded for the middle class; talking about the typical everyday existence of the average, ordinary person and how they live their lives. Atwood provides the framework for several possibilities regarding her characters’ lives and how each character eventually completes their life with their respective “happy ending”.
Katherine’s ideal self was a woman who had a successful career and a family life; she wanted to have a husband, children, and a career. These attributes were different from her real self-concept. Her real self was without a husband, children, or a career. As a result of this incongruence between her real self and ideal self, Katherine lacked positive self-regard. She was bounded by the commands of her husband, who disapproved of and ridiculed her dreams to own a business. Her husband was insistent that she had to take care of him, which made her feel incompetent and made her dependent, and later divorced her. The seriousness of her neurosis is observed when she intentionally missed her 10th high school reunion due to the fear of being judged of her lack of success and accomplishments by her classmates. Due to the lack of positive self-regard, she was afraid that others would either make fun of or pity her. The incongruence between her perceived self and ideal self affected her condition of worth, she thought that if she was successful, she would have been accepted by others.
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
For years her mother had been trying to find her lost daughters, but had no luck. Even offering a
and reflected on her dangerous, ominous surroundings. Tanya was being very observant, being clear to spot the emotions of the Parisians. She had always hated Paris and how it was occupied with its happy citizens and perfect economy. It was too happy, too perfect. It was a place that encouraged her tendency to feel violent. This nourished and grew her unhappiness, and caused it to occur in the first place. Then she saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the figure of Georgina Barlow. Georgina was the most daring, most famous policeman, with her charming smile and perfect teeth. Too charming. Too perfect. Georgina had always opposed Tanya. Georgina hated how Tanya wanted to destroy Paris’ happiness. Tanya hated Georgina,
also wants to be able to feel the same way about her new home in
In Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party,” the fourth reasons that show the rich Sheridans think they are better than the poor Scotts. However, the Sheridans thought the Scotts wanted their hand-me-downs. Since the Scotts were poor and the Sheridans were rich, they thought they were giving them goods of value. “There on the table were all those sandwiches, cakes, puffs, all un-eaten, all going to be wasted. Mrs. Sheridan had one of her brilliant ideas. I know, she said. “Let’s make up a basket. Let’s send that poor creature some of this perfectly good food. At any rate, it will be the greatest treat for the children. Again, how curious, she seemed to be different from them all. To take scraps from their party. Would the poor woman really
Her role as a wife and a mother starts to become her daily routine, and she is not satisfied with it. She tries her best to satiate herself. She starts making efforts to achieve different approaches to satisfy these efforts but still “she does not get pleasure in her duties” (Goodwin 39), and this is the reason why she always get dissatisfaction in her life. Her dissatisfaction with this role in life also leads the narrator protagonist to try on other roles. Though she tries on many, none of these seem to satisfy her either; she "tried these personalities on like costumes, then discarded them" (Goodwin 38). Her inability to find any role that satisfies her probably contributes to her general sense of helplessness, and continues to withdraw from her family. Since she cannot find any particular role that suits her, she attempts not to have any role at all; the coldness and isolation of the undecorated white room make it seem that she is trying to empty herself of her previous life.