Happy Endings is a short story by Margaret Atwood. It was first published in 1985 and has been reprinted several times since. The story is about six different couples and how their relationships end, either happily or not.
The first couple, John and Mary, seem to have the perfect relationship. They are both successful, well-educated, and good-looking. However, John is cheating on Mary with another woman. When Mary finds out about the affair, she ends the relationship.
The second couple, Bill and Barb, have been married for years. They have two children and a comfortable life. However, Bill is an alcoholic and his drinking causes problems in the marriage. Barb eventually leaves him because she can’t take it anymore.
The third couple, Tom and Liz, are also married with two children. However, their marriage is not as happy as it appears to be. Liz is unhappy and wants to leave Tom, but she doesn’t want to hurt him or their children. She eventually does leave him, but they remain friends.
The only thing that all of us have in common is death, as the theme in “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood illustrates. But our lives can be very different in terms of how we live and die. As Atwood wrote, “You’ll have to face it, the endings are the same however you slice it.” Though our beginnings and endings may be similar, it’s what happens in the middle that makes us unique.
The characters in “Happy Endings” are all nameless, but they each have unique backstories that led to their current situation. The first character is a man who has been married for 30 years and has two children. He is currently in a loveless marriage and is considering having an affair. The second character is a woman who is also married, but she is not happy with her husband. She is thinking about leaving him and starting a new life.
The third character is a single woman who has never been married. She is content with her life and has no desire to change it. The fourth character, and final character, is a man who is gay and in a relationship. He is happy with his partner and has no desire to change his situation.
While the four characters have different backstories, they all end up in the same place: death. But how they get there is what makes their lives unique. The first character dies of a heart attack while having an affair with another woman. The second character dies of cancer after leaving her husband and starting a new life. The third character kills herself after she realizes that she is content with her life and doesn’t want to change it. The fourth character dies in a car accident with his partner.
What the author is attempting to convey in this narrative is that all events begin and end similarly, with the exception of what transpires during life and how death comes about. In her tale, Atwood also claims that by early adolescence and middle age, you can anticipate how it will finish: “John marries Marge and everything continues as it did in A.” (Atwood Happy Endings 22).
The author tries to show us that there are only two possible outcomes in life, a happy ending or a not so happy one. No matter what you do in between the beginning and the end, you will always end up in one of those two places.
In her story “Happy Endings”, Margaret Atwood gives us six different scenarios of couple’s lives, but all of them have the same ending, which is either death or living happily ever after. Even though the end is already given, Atwood still tries to show us that it’s the journey that matters, not the destination.
No matter what path you choose in life, you will always end up in one of two places: a happy ending or a not-so-happy one. As the author Margaret Atwood demonstrates in her story “Happy Endings”, the journey is what matters, not the destination.
Every parent wants their baby to grow up happy, healthy, and educated before attending school, college, finding a good job, starting a family, and living happily ever after. But not all outcomes go as planned. In Atwood’s narrative “Beginnings are always more exciting.”
Nevertheless, “the endings are what count.” While some may find contentment and stability in a traditional path, others blaze their own trail. Happy Endings is about carving out your own unique story, whether it follows a conventional arc or not. Life is full of surprises and Margaret Atwood reminds us that there’s no one right way to live. So go forth and write your own Happy Ending.
It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve accumulated or where you are in society. Someone’s life can be as colorful and full of accomplishments as that of Mother Teresa or Oprah Winfrey. Life may also be simple yet brilliant by the number of events that occur throughout a lifetime.
Life is full of surprises. The ending is always a surprise. Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood is a story about different possible scenarios that could happen in someone’s life.
The story starts with a character named John and his wife, Mary. They are talking about their lives and how they believe that everything happens for a reason. John tells Mary about different events that have happened in his life, and how each event has led him to where he is today. He believes that if he had not gone through certain experiences, he would not be the man he is today.
My grandmother, for example, was born and raised all of her life in a tiny Ukrainian hamlet but survived the Revolution, Collectivization, World War II, and the Holodomor famine while raising five children as a young widow. Her existence was distinctive yet unique in its own way. We may predict what comes next if we know where or why someone has been sentenced to spend the rest of his or her life in prison without parole.
Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood is a story about different couples and how their lives might end depending on the choices they make.
The story starts with two possible scenarios: in the first one, John and Mary meet, get married, have children, and grow old together; in the second scenario, they never meet and live their lives separately. As the story progresses, more possible endings are presented for each couple, some happy and some not so much. In the end, all the stories converge into a single ending, which may or may not be happy depending on your interpretation.
Happy Endings is a great example of how our choices can affect our lives. It shows that there is no such thing as a perfect choice, and that every decision we make has the potential to change our lives in ways we can never predict.
If you’re looking for a thought-provoking and enjoyable read, I highly recommend Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood.
