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Atwood's other point in Happy Endings is that the endings themselves are mere window dressing. Readers typically favor a happy ending, but the happy ending should not be the point of the story. The story lies not in the ending at all, but in the how's and why's of the characters and their actions. Her choice of device to illustrate this point is unfortunate, however. She decides that to make her point all endings are "John and Mary die." This is a straw man, since the ultimate end we all face is not the ending constructed in most stories. Atwood's point is that all other endings are contrived, but this ending of hers is equally contrived since the world doesn't end when somebody dies. The true end is the end of the universe itself, not the end of the characters' lives. A story is not necessarily a life story, but a snapshot in time, fictional or otherwise.
There is, however, good rationale for Atwood to seek to make this point. Her primary argument regarding the value of cause and effect is a valid argument. Stories are not about endings any more than they are about the sequence of actions leading up to the endings. Writers should not focus on their endings so much as they should focus on cause and effect for their characters' actions. In removing...
This shift takes the focus away from a plot that is based on a series of actions and places the focus on the reasons behind those actions. This is opposite to what occurs when a writer places emphasis on an ending. The plot then becomes a robotic series of steps, with the only objective being to traverse the path between the chosen beginning point and the desired ending point. Such stories, Atwood contends, are ultimately less compelling.
Together, the six sketches contained in Happy Endings illustrate a core point regarding the value of cause and effect. The stories with the conflict are the most interesting and in theory can be fleshed out the most. These stories illustrate the way in which conflict arises in relationships. Without mutual love, conflict can occur. The heart of the story is in the reasons why that mutual love does not occur, the question of why the characters remain in the relationship despite the apparently conflict, and the question of how that conflict manifests itself. Story B. shows the conflict limited to one person while Story C. shows an example of the conflict spreading to several people.
As Canada has become less wild, many of these obstacles have been recognized by writers to exist internally, as Atwood says: "no longer obstacles to physical survival but obstacles to what we may call spiritual survival, to life as anything more than a minimally human being." Grim survival is that sort of survival which overcomes a specific threat which destroys everything else about one, such as a hurricane or plane
Conventional literary criticism pertaining to Margaret Atwood and her works of fiction tend to focus on the postmodern genre of literature for which she is generally regarded as a purveyor. This scope of focus certainly applies to a bevy of criticism aimed towards some of her shorter works of fiction, particularly that found in her collection of short stories Bluebeard's Egg. Carolyn Merli (2007) both mentions this propensity and
In this simple, somewhat old-fashioned novel in which happiness is demonstrated by young girls successfully marrying, the ending of the novel is much more preferable to the beginning. The novel ends, of course, with Elizabeth marrying Mr. Darcy in a state of happiness. The beginning of their relationship, however, was characterized by a sense of tension and perhaps even mutual dislike on the part of both parties, as Mr. Darcy
Simile -- A common device in poetry is the use of comparisons, often comparing something unusual or uncommon with something that is more familiar to the reader or audience. One kind of comparison is the simile, which uses the words like or as and compares two things that are dissimilar in order to bring about a fresh view and new meaning. An example of a simile that does this is found
Storytelling Review of Literature For hundreds of years, stories have been used to teach children about morality and ethics. Indeed, many of the same myths, legends and fairy tales have been handed down from generation to generation, remaining largely intact. However, these myths also contain hidden meanings that illuminate the cultural or historical aspects of their origin. The first part of this paper studies the literature examining hidden meanings, cultural norms and morals