- 23/11/2012
- Posted by: essay
- Category: Free essays
Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” is a remarkable work which reveals the complexity of literary works and shows that the most important part of the story is not the ending but the middle. In such a way, the author attempts to show that the development of a story and its depiction by a writer is of the utmost importance, whereas the ending of a story is nothing but a sort of cliché.
To put it more precisely, in her “Happy Endings”, Margaret Atwood argues that all endings are similar to each other because there is just a set of clichés which writers use to end their stories. What makes stories really different is the middle because the unfolding of events is different and unique for each story. Therefore, Margaret Atwood argues that it is important to focus attention on the events described by writers in the middle of the story, whereas ending is not important. Such a view on stories is quite different because traditionally readers believe that ending is the most important part of the book. In this regard, Margaret Atwood has the reason because the ending of stories has the same ending but the author views the ending of the story from the rational standpoint and leaves little room for fiction. Therefore, her view on endings of stories is quite narrow and is applicable only to some stories but not all stories.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood presents an original view on endings of stories but it is still quite subjective and cannot be applied to all stories.
References
Atwood, M. (2007). Happy Endings. New York: Random House.
Stewart, G. (2006). Modern Literature. New York: Routledge.
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