Margaret Atwood Happy Endings Analysis

1661 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Edgar Allan Poe analysis

2109
“If you want a happy ending, try A:” The Underlying Theme of Death in Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” Edgar Allan Poe once said, “The boundaries which divide Life and Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends and the other begins?”(1). Death and its effects, as well as the mechanics of writing, are depicted in many of Atwood’s works, deeply influenced by her passion for Edgar Allan Poe’s works in literature. Death for Atwood in “Happy Endings” is not simply another macabre literary experiment. Atwood demonstrates that through death, beginnings and endings share a meaning that is one and the same and it resonates throughout the structure, narrative, reader interpretation, and overall tone of this piece of …show more content…

Although at first glance it does not look like a story, but instead mimics a set of notes lettered A-F, each part complicates the other, from the mundane to the tragic. The full work in and of itself runs in circles, “it 's like one of those bullet-time film sequences that allows us to see the truck from multiple angles and still be in danger, and then the truck stops, and we 're still in the middle of the road… looking backwards, and then forwards, and then backwards again, and wondering what to do now” …show more content…

The narrator of “Happy Endings” argues that every story ends with death, but while a character may die physically, a legacy lives on despite the narrator’s attempt to keep them disconnected. For example, Fred dies, end of story. Yet he lives on in the form of guilt, depression, frustration, and confusion in Madge’s mind. Additionally, with every broken, damaged, and shattered relationship that has occurred, a new one has developed. It may present as life with another person, or just the thought that a single life leads one down a new path, but without the “death” of the previous relationship, the new one never will have had a chance to tell its story. The narrator just might be correct in believing that death “is the only authentic ending,” but through the example of Fred, this truth may need to be taken one step further. In the words of Poe, “…Who shall say where one ends, and where the other

Show More
Related

  • Tomorrow When The War Began Essay

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    The presence of death in the novel looms over the characters, making each of them reflect on the

    Read More

  • Struggle With Death In The Sweet Hereafter By Russell Banks

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    Often when a person suffers through a tragic loss of a loved one in his or her life they never fully recover to move on. Death is one of hardest experiences a person in life ever goes through. Only the strong minded people are the ones that are able to move on from it whereas the weak ones never recover from the loss of a loved one. In the novel The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks, character Billy Ansel – having lost his family serves as the best example of brokenness after experiencing death. Whether it is turning to substance abuse, using his memory to escape reality or using Risa Walker as a sexual escape, Billy Ansel never fully recovers from the death of his twins and his wife. This close analysis of Billy’s struggle with death becomes an important lesson for all readers. When dealing with tragedies humans believe they have the moral strength to handle them and move on by themselves but, what they do not realize is that they need someone by their side to help them overcome death. Using unhealthy coping mechanism only leads to life full of grief and depression.

    Read More

  • Salvation Anxiety In Salvation Anxiety

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thousands of cancer patients, or any terminally ill patients, wish for life in the end, nevertheless for Vivian, who states, “It is not my intention to give away the plot; but I think I die at the end” (Edson), she knows that may not happen for her. Wit’s conclusion has a great deal to say of peaceful death and salvation and is connected to that theme of “Salvation Anxiety” since Vivian is not afraid of her cancer, Vivian 's peaceful death, and Jason and Susie 's reaction to Vivian 's death.

    Read More

  • An Amateur’s Exploration of, “Because I could not stop for Death”

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emily Dickinson is well-known as a poet who lived a secluded and sheltered life. Many of her poems focus on subjects of death and dying. In “Because I could not stop for death”, Emily Dickinson expresses her very personal thoughts on death and what follows. She presents these thoughts in the form of a poem in which she shares her feelings and philosophies as someone who experienced life as a sheltered recluse. This paper will review Emily Dickinson’s poem, and will evaluate her use of familiar sensory stimuli to describe the three stages of life as well as her use of personifications, metaphoric devices, and tone to illuminate death in a pleasant light and contradict its connotation as the end.

    Read More

  • A Rose For Emily Death Analysis

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the short story “A Rose for Emily” death plays a major role in developing the story. It also shows how the death of one person can change a city as a whole. However, if you compare this story to the life of the author, William Faulkner, you can see how death in his life can contribute to why he wrote the story the way he did. The death of the people is used to add to the meaning of the work altogether. William Faulkner’s experiences add meaning to his work, “A Rose for Emily,” through several deaths and Emily’s ultimate demise.

    Read More

  • The Representation of Tone in the Novel of the Turn of the Screw

    780 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... is reminiscing about the fact that she messed up and it cost the boy’s life. The overall tone in the end of the novel is depressing as the governess’s actions and attitudes about current events tend to reflect the tone of the situation.

    Read More

  • Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” she uses the structure of her poem and rhetoric as concrete representation of her abstract beliefs about death to comfort and encourage readers into accepting Death when He comes. The underlying theme that can be extracted from this poem is that death is just a new beginning. Dickinson deftly reassures her readers of this with innovative organization and management, life-like rhyme and rhythm, subtle but meaningful use of symbolism, and ironic metaphors.

    Read More

  • Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    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”.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Happy Endings In Brave New World

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Happy Endings By Margaret Atwood

    781 Words  | 2 Pages

    No matter how hard society tries to achieve the perfect life, it does not always go as planned. It doesn’t matter if the characters are bored and depressed, confused and guilty, or virtuous and lucky; the gradual path of version A is not always in reach. Atwood states near the end of the short story, “You’ll have to face it, the endings are the same however you slice it. Don’t be deluded by any other endings, they’re all fake, either deliberately fake, which malicious intent to deceive, or just motivated by excessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality. The only authentic ending is the one provided here: John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die” (690). The idea of this short story is not the fact that every one dies, but with the eventful memories that can make the life worthwhile. The author says, “So much for endings. Beginnings are always more fun. True connoisseurs, however, are known to favor the stretch in between, since it’s the hardest to do anything with. That’s about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what. Now try How and Why” (690). This short story forces the readers to question the meaning of life. Every story has the same ending, because very life has the same ending. Life is exciting because of the experiences that can lead each individual onto their own path in life. The how and the why are the inspirations, the feelings, and the interpretations that the reader goes through as they make their own way through version A. Be adventurous and make memories because the story isn’t in the ending; it’s in what’s done on the way

    Read More

  • The Sleeper Literary Analysis Essay

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    Death can both be a painful and serious topic, but in the hands of the right poet it can be so natural and eloquently put together. This is the case in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe, as tackles the topic of death in an uncanny way. This poem is important, because it may be about the poet’s feelings towards his mother’s death, as well as a person who is coming to terms with a loved ones passing. In the poem, Poe presents a speaker who uses various literary devices such as couplet, end-stopped line, alliteration, image, consonance, and apostrophe to dramatize coming to terms with the death of a loved one.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Mary Oliver's 'When Death Comes'

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the first instance, death is portrayed as a “bear” (2) that reaches out seasonally. This is then followed by a man whom “ comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse / / to buy me…” This ever-changing persona that encapsulates death brings forth a curiosity about death and its presence in the living world. In the second stanza, “measles-pox” (6) is an illness used to portray death’s existence in a distinctive embodiment. This uncertainty creates the illusion of warmth and welcomenesss and is further demonstrated through the reproduction of death as an eminent figure. Further inspection allows the reader to understand death as a swift encounter. The quick imagery brought forth by words such as “snaps” and “shut” provoke a sense of startle in which the audience may dispel any idea of expectedness in death’s coming. This essential idea of apparent arrival transitions to a slower, foreseeable fate where one can imagine the enduring pain experienced “an iceberg between shoulder blades” (line 8). This shift characterizes the constant adaptation in appearance that death acquires. Moreover, the idea of warmth radiating from death’s presence reemerges with the introduction to a “cottage of darkness” (line 10), which to some may bring about a feeling of pleasantry and comfort. It is important to note that line 10 was the sole occurrence of a rhetorical question that the speaker

    Read More

  • The Last Night That She Lived

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.

    Read More

  • Is Suicide the Solution?

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout time, death has been viewed in a negative light. In general, it is an event to be mourned and is seen by some as the end to existence. People do not usually seek death as an answer to their problems. In various pieces of literature, however, suicide is contemplated by the characters as the only solution to the pain and grief that they experience.

    Read More

  • Death in Auden’s Funeral Blues, Forche’s Memory of Elena, and Dickinson’s Last Night that She lived

    1681 Words  | 4 Pages

    Death is a natural and inevitable part of life. Everyone will experience death, whether it is of a loved one or oneself. In W.H. Auden’s poem “Funeral Blues” (1003), he describes such a catastrophic event and the drastic effect that it has on his life. It is interesting how people choose to accept this permanent and expected event, death. Similarly, Emily Dickinson has written many poems about death, such as “The last Night that She lived” (843), which describes a family waiting for a woman or girl to die and the dreary and depressed mood that exists within the household. Mourning is considered a perfectly healthy reaction when someone who is deeply loved and cared about passes on, and this is illustrated in “The Memory of Elena” (1070-71) by Carolyn Forche. She writes about the events following a funeral and also flashes back to the actual moment that a wife has watched her husband die. W.H Auden’s “Funeral Blues,” Carolyn Forche’s “The Memory of Elena,” and Emily Dickinson’s “The last Night that She lived” are all poems which share death as their subject matter, but differ in the fact that they discuss death in a unique style with a variety of literary devices to make them more effective.

    Read More

More about Margaret Atwood Happy Endings Analysis

Open Document