Margaret atwood happy endings literary analysis

Final Paper: A Literary Analysis Written In The Persuasive Essay Style

Margaret Atwood’s ‘Happy Endings’

Robyn Canada Comment by Auger, Heather: Hi Robyn,Is your last name now Datillo or is it still Canda?

ENG 341: Studies in Literary Genres

Professor Heather Auger

February 3, 2014

Margaret Atwood’s ‘Happy Endings’

General opening statement

Margaret Atwood is an iconic figure in the world of literature. One of her most popular poems; ‘Happy Endings’ is a perfect revelation of this sentiment. The relation between the narrator and the author is obscured rather than revealed and this study aims at unraveling the truth behind this assertion by carrying out an explicit annotated bibliography on some of the most researched articles in this subject. Comment by Auger, Heather: Great paragraph and thesis

Harnessing statements

The three main points supporting the thesis statement include:

1. Howells (2006) relates the author to the narrator through death which is a stage that everyone must pass through. This is an obscure relationship because it death does not select people with specific identities and hence does not reveal true identity of the author and narrator.

2. Korolczuk (2004) depicts the author sharing sentiments about women by arguing that women were a representative of imprisonment and servitude through the weak nature of their body. We cannot know whether the author is sharing this sentiment out of experience or not.

3. Nischik (2000) asserts that the version A that was described by Atwood, is a version that happens to everybody around the world that most people end up having happy lives after they marry if they marry those that they love and will most likely conquer challenges together along the way in a unified version like their romantic life. It is thus difficulty to make specific identity of author and narrator. Comment by Auger, Heather: This is a very long sentence!

Main Paragraph

Based on the three points mentioned above, it is undisputable that the relation between the narrator and the author is indeed obscured rather than revealed. The three different authors describe how the author uses general statement in places that could help in resolving the identity of the author and the narrator. The next section of this work would analyze the three arguments critically to ascertain as to whether it is true that the relation between the narrator and the author is indeed obscured rather than revealed. Comment by Auger, Heather: Atwood

The first argument supporting the thesis is that Howells (2006) relates the author to the narrator through death which is a stage that everyone must pass through. This is a point where the identity of narrator is partly covered. The use of the term “everyone” suggests that the narrator and the author are included. The sentence is very general. This argument suggests that the Atwood does not give specific identity of the narrator and author but instead generalized them. Death does not select the person based on gender, sex, age and even marital status. If this statement was specific, could be easy to identify the actual identity of the narrator. This argument is supported by the work of Stovel (1986), which describes how Margaret Atwood use different identities. It is also supported by Castro & VanSpanckeren where they argue that the narrator relates to Atwood by accepting that all people must learn to accept that death is a bridge that everyone must cross and that every romantic life is not smooth despite the happy moment that expresses during the beginning. Based on these arguments and assertions, it is undisputable that the author and narrator’s identity is indeed obscured.

The second argument is depicted in the work of Korolczuk (2004), where the narrator is depicted sharing sentiments about women by arguing that women were a representative of imprisonment and servitude through the weak nature of their body. The narrator is arguing in the feminine context. It is hard to tell whether the narrator is arguing out of experience or based on what the narrator has learned about women. However, the work of Hampl (2002) supports the fact that narrator is indeed a feminine activists. This suggests that the sentiments the author is sharing are actually because she has experience the same as a woman. Going as per this argument, then it is clear that the narrator and author’s identity is not as obscured as depicted by thesis. Assuming that the narrator is arguing based on acquired knowledge, then it is true that the relationship between the narrator and author is obscured rather than revealed.

The last argument is where Nischik (2000) asserts that the version A that was described by Atwood, is a version that happens to everybody around the world. In other words, the narrator was describing love. The narrator asserts that most people end up having happy lives after they marry if they marry those that they love and will most likely conquer challenges together along the way in a unified version like their romantic life. This is supported by the work of Sasame (2010), which indicates that everyone in the globe falls in love and gets married. Based on this, it is difficult to understand the specific identity of the author and narrator. If the narrator could have included the sex or the gender, it could be easier to identify whether the narrator and author is the same.

Conclusion

The foregoing discussion has indeed proved the fact that relation between the narrator and the author is obscured rather than revealed. However, this hold true if only the assumption that death is a good index of making identity and that the author is arguing about feminity out of acquired knowledge rather than experience. However, if it is true that the author is arguing out of experience, then the thesis statement would be invalid. Comment by Auger, Heather: You’re doing a nice job looking at your three main sources and seeing how they will support your thesis. I look forward to seeing you flesh out these paragraphs with quotes and analysis.Your conclusion is good and summarizes your thesis and support points. Keep up the good work!

Bibliography

Hampl, W. S. (2002). Margaret Atwood (Book). Studies In The Novel, 34(1), 110.

Howells, C. A. (2006). The Cambridge Companion to Margaret Atwood. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Korolczuk, E. (2004). One Woman Leads to Another–Female Identity in the Works of Margaret Atwood. Retrieved from http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/30244098/Atwood_Korolczuk.pdf?

Nischik, R. M. (2000). Margaret Atwood: Works and Impact. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Camden House.

Sasame, K. (2010). Food for Survival in Margaret Atwood’s Dystopian Worlds. The Japanese Journal of American Studies 21, 1-21.

Stovel, N. (1986). Reflections on Mirror Images: Doubles and Identity in the Novels of Margaret Atwood. Essays On Canadian Writing, (33), 50

VanSpanckeren, K., & Castro, J. G. (1988). Margaret Atwood: Vision and Forms. New Jersey, NJ: SIU Press.