Disguised as Fiction: Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main text
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

The only happy ending is the absence of it. In her short story, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood rebuts the idea of happy endings in fiction and life, since the author argues that every story always has the same end, which is death (Atwood 326). Thus, in her story, Atwood employs a vast range of repetitions of words and sentence structures, so that to demonstrate a recurrent character of any fictional plot, which focuses upon the ending.

Main text

The story presents a brilliant example of metafiction. Therefore, it describes how, due to the author, the plot of any story should be revealed. Besides, Margaret Atwood emphasizes the questions, which should be answered by any author. These questions are How? and Why?, instead of the commonplace What? that is always the same.

Under the coverage of a short story, Margaret Atwood disguises the essay about story-telling. The author focuses upon the universal ending of a story. She describes it in the Aversion and refers to it in every other part of the story. Thus, Atwood centers her idea around the fact that it is a common mistake to write the story for the sake of its ending. Any author needs to focus his/her attention upon the development of the story.

Through her metafiction story, Margaret Atwood brings up the idea of true-to-life writing. This concept has a long scholarly history and was regarded by many scientists in their research works. For instance, Keith Oatley, in her study on fiction, explored how fictional plots can become facts for the readers. Due to the scientist, fiction is a simulation of life, which resembles computer simulations. Therefore, Oatley argues that any fictional plot possesses huge psychological power since it makes the readers experience certain emotions. The readers usually transmit this experience into real life. Consequently, the author of fiction has to consider the impact he/she can produce upon the reader through the plot of the story. It is, thus, crucial to consider the development of this plot and to relate it to the true life, instead of concentrating upon the effective closure of the fictional story (Oatley 101).

The story is structurally divided into 6 parts that are marked by letters. The A part of the text provides the background version of the whole story. It refers to two characters Mary and John. The author chooses the technique of listing the facts from the personages lives, rather than developing their common story. Atwood does not provide the readers with any particular ideas about Mary and Johns personalities. Though the author uses some adjectives to characterize the occupations of Mary and John (challenging, stimulating), it does not allow the readers to perceive what these occupations are. Therefore, the A version of the story is a raw account of fundamental parts of human life: birth-marriage-death.

The following versions of the story provide some variations of the plot development and introduce some additional characters (Madge, James, and Fred). In the BF parts, Atwood considers the feelings and inner thoughts of the personages. For instance, in the B version, the author verifies Marys emotions and her attitude towards John with the true nature of this man. C version provides the readers with some reflections upon a betrayal. In this part, the author describes Johns despair at the moment when he finds Mary cheating on him with James. The two following versions of the text provide the scenarios of events that happened in Fred and Madges lives. The D version outlines the story about the tidal wave that destroyed the couples life, while in the E version, Atwood dwells on the experience that Madge had to go through struggling against Freds disease. Thus, the author demonstrates that plot development is the only significant part of the story.

The last version of the text is a straight example of metafiction. The author tries to involve the reader in the process of writing and lists some instructions on the possible plot developments of the story. Atwood embraces the 2nd person narration so that to underline that any fictional story can change if the reader alternates the central actions that are revealed in it. However, neither author nor the reader can change anything in the story if he/she alternates its ending. In this part, Margaret Atwood also recapitulates the main point of her story in a straightforward way. The author claims that there are no happy or unhappy endings. Life endings are always the same. Thus, the main obligation of any author, due to Margaret Atwood, is to develop an exciting plot in the story and to relate this plot to real life.

Conclusion

To sum it up, Margaret Atwoods short story on happy endings is an example of an essay disguised as fiction. In a form of plot verifications, the author focuses on the idea that every story has a single authentic ending, which she expresses by the sentence: John and Mary die (Atwood 326). Since the author supports the idea of fiction being the representation of true life, Atwood states that there is no need for the author to concentrate upon the ending of the story. It is crucial to pay attention to the realistic and exciting representation of plot actions.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. Literature: A Portable Enthology. Happy Endings. Ed. Janet E. Gardiner. Boston, NY: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 326-329. Print.

Oatley, Keith. Why Fiction May Be Twice as True as Fact: Fiction as Cognitive and Emotional Simulation. Review of General Psychology 3.2 (2009): 101-117. Print.

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Disguised as Fiction: Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood

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