Response to 'Happy Ending'

'Happy Ending' is written by one of the famous Canadian authors, Margaret Atwood. In this story, she tells many different possibilities of ending for the same plot. The different endings from A to F basically deal with the marriage of John and Mary. In some cases, they happily live together, and in other cases they divorce.
In this story, Atwood tries to make a point that many authors rely too much on traditional and unoriginal storylines. Throughout this story, the author is being sarcastic and also criticizing. The author infers that many writers are not being creative enough that the ending of the story could be confined into seven choices. 'One thing after another, and what and what and what. Now try How and Why.' This last sentence of the story indicates that the author hopes to see more dramatic and creative endings. As she emphasized the words 'How' and 'Why' by using capital letters, she leaves her message for other writers to create imaginative and thorough plots and endings in depth.
Although the story is short, the author did a good job on classifying possible endings with humour included. Also, the author’s message toward the readers could be clearly revealed through the story.
I really liked the story as I could see how a simple plot could be ended in many different ways like how music can be changed into various arrangements. Also, I was encouraged to try write a creative ending afterwards when I was writing my short story.
by Molly Kim