“Happy Endings” is satirical because it mocks the common misconception that love and life conclude perfectly with “Happily ever after”. Margaret Atwood challenges this conception in her short story “Happy Endings”. ” and with the conception that you will meet a partner, fall in love, and live happily ever after. Children universally grow-up with stories of “Once upon a time. No matter what, humans always want things to be different in hopes that that “difference” will be deemed better and more acceptable to themselves, loved ones and society. Other times they live vicariously through others who seem to have it “perfect” like Fred in each version. Sometimes they analyze it via comparison and fantasize about a different or better ending. In the world of education it is called synthesizing using higher order thinking skills. ![]() What matters is the choices they make and what road they choose to reach their decision or make up their minds. Humans can choose to do things differently. In order to get somewhere, one must ask the “what if” questions. They want to ask the “what if” questions of life.ĭeath is inevitable in every version of the stories but what is a reaccuring theme is how they get to that point. Therefore, the real survivor and the real person who receives a “Happy Ending” is Madge but is she really happy without Fred? Humans live to recreate dreams. But for who? For the main characters, Mary and John? How is it happy if in version B Mary Dies, in version C, Mary and John Die. Each version always goes back to the ending that version A holds. It is clear that there are two main characters in this overall story. The last version tries to explain the reasoning for all the previous versions. Fred dies of a bad heart and Madge decides that she is going to devote the rest of her life to charity work. Madge and Fred are the ones in love and tragedy strikes but miraculously they both survive. Version D is kind of like a romance novel. Madge, who is in love with John mourns him but eventually moves on and marries a guy name Fred. John mistakenly walks in on them and gets so upset he shoots them both and himself. One day while Mary and James are smoking they get high and climb into bed together. She likes this guy but stays with John because he can apparently “keep it up” longer than younger men. While John is trying to pursue Mary further, she has another interest by the name of James who is twenty two years old. Mary sleeps with him out of pity for him. In this version of the story John is an older man. Version C flips personalities where John is interested in Mary but she does not share the same desire for him. Mary gets real depressed and takes pills in hopes that John would recognize her and be her “savior.” She dies and whilst this relationship is existing, John is accused of dating Madge who he eventually marries. He fakes his relationship with her but really shows no interest in the “them” portion of the relationship. Version B starts with Mary being in love with John but he does not share the same feelings for her. It is considered more “Hollywoodish” and the ending is extremely positive. The first version, which is version A is a mutual love between two people, Mary and John meet and fall in love and have a perfect relationship. ![]() Atwood uses six different versions of the same story to illustrate her idea. If there is a beginning, there is an ending and it will not always end happily. The title deceives the reader in that it sounds like the story will be about “endings’ but it is more focused on beginnings. However, are humans programmed to analyze life in this form? Atwood writes a great story that includes many twists and turns. When we look back into the “empty tomb”, could we have changed something or reacted different? In Margaret Atwood’s ‘Happy Ending’, we read about six different endings to from the same story. Regardless of what popular belief expresses, we do dictate our reaction to the choices we make, which, can lead to a happy ending. Yes, we can help create a positive or a negative ending, but we cannot guarantee anything. Happy Endings Unless we are psychic or extremely in touch with a higher spiritual world, it is almost impossible for us to be aware of what the nextday will bring.
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