The End Margaret Atwood reveals dark truths in her short fiction Happy Endings. She begins with her two main characters, John and Mary, meeting and gives the story six different twists and turns eventually returning to her first story, the happy ending. She layers her stories with intriguing and unique characters and plots that keep the audience interested. Through Atwood’s writing we look at different trials and tribulations of life and she makes us come to the realization that no matter how you get there, no matter which paths you take along the way, the story must end. John and Mary are the center pieces in every one of Atwood’s writing. In her first scenario, A, they have a thriving life together. John and Mary love one another and are devoted to their kids and each other (Atwood 1). Their home life coincides …show more content…
Don't be deluded by any other endings, they're all fake, either deliberately fake, with malicious intent to deceive, or just motivated by excessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality.
(Atwood 3)
She is stating here that no matter which way you look at it, the end is neither good nor bad because the story is over, it is all the same. The middle is where the good and the bad take place. The “only authentic ending is the one provided here: John and Mary die” states Atwood and this is believed to ring true. You can keep the story going for as long as possible but it has to end and death is an inescapable factor of life.
In conclusion, Margaret Atwood shows great diversity in her characters and plot twists in this story. Her message proves to be not just fiction when looking at the subjects of love, hate, envy and death. Atwood shows that no matter what the story is or who is in it there is only one common denominator and that is the end is inevitable. Whether in between is joyful or gruesome, silly or serious, the journey is the most important part of
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.
"At the very end of the novel- what is represented as being important? Find two quotes to illustrate this".
When Zora Hurston wrote this novel, she wanted to explain how a young women search for her own identity. This young woman would go through three relationships that took her to the end of the journey of a secure sense of independence. She wanted to find her own voice while in a relationship, but she also witnessed hate, pain, and love through the journey. When Logan Killicks came she witnessed the hate because he never connected physically or emotionally to her. Jody Starks, to what she assumed, as the ticket to freedom. What she did not know was the relationship came with control and pain. When she finally meets Tea Cake she was in love, but had to choose life over love in the end.
This book was brilliant. There were moments that made me laugh, moments that made me tremble in my chair, moments that made me cry, moments that melted my heart, and moments that made me want to rip my hair out at the roots. This book has it all, and it delivers it through a cold but much needed message.
People one can never really tell how person is feeling or what their situation is behind closed doors or behind the façade of the life they lead. Two masterly crafted literary works present readers with characters that have two similar but very different stories that end in the same result. In Herman Melville’s story “Bartleby the Scrivener” readers are presented with Bartleby, an interesting and minimally deep character. In comparison to Gail Godwin’s work, “A Sorrowful Woman” we are presented with a nameless woman with a similar physiological state as Bartleby whom expresses her feelings of dissatisfaction of her life. Here, a deeper examination of these characters their situations and their ultimate fate will be pursued and delved into for a deeper understanding of the choice death for these characters.
John is isolated from birth and through all of his life until Bernard brings him
In this way the novel ends on the course of despair that it began in
Throughout a person’s lifetime there are a few defining moments that determine the kind of person they become. In Margaret Atwood’s Weight marriage, careers, and children play significant roles in the lives of Molly and her friend the narrator. The narrator’s flashbacks provide insight into the highs and lows of her own life along with Molly’s. Weight is an enjoyable short story because the struggles and triumphs of the characters may resonate with the reader’s own life. Atwood’s Weight is an effective and thought provoking short story. A complex plot, point of view, setting, theme, and characterization deliver mechanisms to stimulate thoughts and feelings in the reader.
The end of the book states "I don't know if this is a happy ending but here we are let loose in...
The story Happy Endings is a meta fiction. This format works well in portraying the various archetype of men and women in relationships. Both men and women are portrayed in a realistic light and are portrayed from the stereotypical to the unimportant. There is a difference of the portrayal of the characters in the different parts.
The first symbolism the author uses is the narrator's and the husband’s relationship. She loves and relies on her husband so much she would listen to what he has to say. For instance, the story states “I wish John would take me away from here!”(Gilman 5). This quotes shows how the narrator trust him to save her. Not only does she love John, but John loves her so they have a strong bond. “He said I was his darling and comfort and all he had.” (Gilman 5). Their relationship is solid which makes it hard for her to go
...it up to each reader to draw their own conclusions and search their own feelings. At the false climax, the reader was surprised to learn that the quite, well-liked, polite, little convent girl was colored. Now the reader had to evaluate how the forces within their society might have driven such an innocent to commit suicide.
At the outset, Atwood gives the reader an exceedingly basic outline of a story with characters John and Mary in plotline A. As we move along to the subsequent plots she adds more detail and depth to the characters and their stories, although she refers back with “If you want a happy ending, try A” (p.327), while alluding that other endings may not be as happy, although possibly not as dull and foreseeable as they were in plot A. Each successive plot is a new telling of the same basic story line; labeled alphabetically A-F; the different plots describe how the character’s lives are lived with all stories ending as they did in A. The stories tell of love gained or of love lost; love given but not reciprocated. The characters experience heartache, suicide, sadness, humiliation, crimes of passion, even happiness; ultimately all ending in death regardless of “the stretch in between”. (p.329)
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
the end of the novel as both the women in his life have other men at