Happy Ending

Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” is written in a cut out and paste format which gives various scenarios and plot lines, each inevitably ending in death. Artwood describes the different dynamics of finding, having, losing, and gaining love each in no more than half a page, giving no real substance to each. However for this very reason it is intentional—each character drawn out, are meant to be viewed as the same body, just a different name. In this way, the writer attitude towards fairy tale endings has a sardonic twist on perception and places a challenging outlook on love to every fairy-tale romantic.

Atwood’s uses third person omniscient in a creative tactic of a pick-and-choose game to prove a blunt focus that life can go many ways, and it is the frustrations and derailments that occur in life are what we make of them, and each story will meet its own authentic ending. In scenario A she uses the story that children are told from a young age about how love is blossomed and unfolds after meeting their own interpretation of “John” or “Mary” ending with them both living happily ever after. This structure has been used throughout many romantic novels for eras, but each leaves the reader in the dark about the inevitable deaths that each will meet. Artwood uses A to draw the reader into familiarity of a plot that they are accustomed to, then derails into scenario’s B, C, D, AND E, causing the reader to see past the happy ending (if one is provided).

With this outlining of different, yet, similar lifes drawn out, Artwood creates very little substance to each character by giving them each very basic names such as ”Mary” and “John”—using both names as the foundation to other names introduced in and out of the remaining scenarios. As one reads farther the author’s intended point is quickly realized -- that the characters names holds insignificant meaning in the story, but instead, what they are doing, and how each life is constructed is what Atwood intended the reader...