There is a theory for movie's makers of using different plots but with only good endings. The customer usually prefers "a happy end". Margaret Atwood made a try to explore this phenomenon and suggest readers to think about their preferences again.
The short story "Happy Endings" written by Margaret Atwood gives readers a few options for the plot development. The easiest one is John and Mary meet, get married, go through their life without problems and, eventually, die. The story A looks like a happy life, but look what style the author uses for describing it! The manner of writing the story A is simple, very simple, the writer deliberately simplified it.
"Let's add some hot", suggested Atwood in the B-story (it reminds me of a title of a very famous movie "Some Like It Hot"). This part includes an intrigue, drama, climax, attitude of the main character, feelings - all that readers want. It is more natural, but very depressing. Happy end after the main character died looks ironically.
Next variations of the love-story lead readers to the labyrinth of human relationships. Margaret Atwood makes a conclusion:
"The only authentic ending is the one provided here:
John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die."
My opinion:
It is a false conclusion. The moral of the story is hidden in the last line: "Now try How and Why."
The end doesn’t matter so much, as a process of how it had been going. "True connoisseurs, however, are known to favor the stretch in between, since it's the hardest to do anything with."
Choosing the story for reading, seeing the title, we could expect a happy end but our expectations weren't fulfilled. The story with a happy end looks a little depressing (at least for me). The reason? Because we can see actions: how and why.
This is Youtube video about this story:
This story was corrected by the teacher Maria during the class on online school albert-learning.com
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