Unhappy Beginnings Essay

Happy In-betweens
Jennifer Sylvester
Introduction to Fiction
Fall 2010









“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,” Margaret Atwood in “Happy Endings”.   The short story, “Happy Endings” by Atwood, is an unequivocal example of her unique and intriguing writing style as a literary genius.   Atwood has been writing literature since she was first published in the early 1960’s.   She has over thirty-five volumes of children’s literature, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and many novels.   “Atwood has helped to define and identify the goals of contemporary Canadian literature and has earned a distinguished reputation among feminist writers for her exploration of women’s issues,” Karr (2).   She writes with an energetic and keen style with comical wit in all her collections of writing. She is one of the most noteworthy writers of all literature in modern-day time.  

The short story “Happy Endings” was written in 1982.   It was first seen published in 1983 in a book called, Murder In The Dark.   The readers are given six different thumbnail scenes that are centralized around two characters, John and Mary.   These six situations are different paths that their lives could take within their own relationship together.   Here, it is where you see a certain feminist, cynical, and fairy-tale criticism Atwood has on relationships and life in general.   In this story Atwood writes about the mechanics of the plot and how she sees it.   For example, she writes, “That’s about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, and a what and a what and a what,” Atwood, “Happy Endings”.   The work from Atwood in this short story is smart, insightful, and witty when it comes to different writing perspectives an author can have on life.   Her significant and slightly dark works has always intrigued the readers of...