Not_so_Happy_Endings

Not So Happy Endings Now here is a true story for consideration. Rachel meets Quentin. Do you want to know how this ends' Read on my friend, read on. The lightning bolt off of Cupid’s arrow strikes dead center in their hearts equally. They date, fall in love, marry and reproduce three sons. Life was great for Rachel and Quentin; at least it was until Quentin’s best kept secret came out. Rachel had taken his virginity. He regretted not sowing his wild oats and settling down too early in his young adulthood. He cheated on Rachel throughout their entire marriage. They divorce and Quentin remarries his mistress, Lindsey, before the judge’s signature was even dry on the divorce decree. Quentin takes Rachel’s three sons with him. Quentin lives his fairytale life with his new child bride and Rachel turns bitter. Quentin eventually dies by the hands of another lover’s husband. Rachel tries to move past men because of the damage Quentin created. She falls in love quickly with her best friend from high school, Anne. They reconnected through the now outdated Myspace forum. Rachel and Anne jointly battle with their long distance relationship, eventually rehab for addictions, and Rachel battled with the adjustment of being in a homosexual relationship. Five years go by. Rachel never fully adjusts to the “gay lifestyle” and subsequently broke her best friend’s heart. Anne is devastated and stays distant and guarded. Once again, Rachel is bitter, but this time it was her choice to leave. They are both still in pain regardless. Anne will die eventually but Rachel will never know how because Anne has fallen of the face of Rachel’s world. David enters Rachel’s life. It’s New Year’s night and David’s local band is playing a gig at Rachel’s favorite bar. Rachel is enjoying the attention from David through her intoxicated rose colored glasses. She feels the familiar sting of Cupid’s lightning bolt straight through her chest once again. Rachel falls for him quickly even though she tries her best to avoid those feelings. Rachel and David decide to not put and titles on what is happening emotionally between the two of them. They mutually flirt through text messages and Facebook status updates. Rachel thinks things are going great. She’s decided that she’s ready to move forward with David, but he’s secretive with his feelings and confuses her daily. David plays all the usual dating games like a professional and drives Rachel to the point of emotional insanity. On Valentine’s Day, she confronts him on his vagueness over his emotions. David knows that Rachel is in love with him. She would marry him tomorrow if he would ever propose to her. Dave, however, has different ideas about “their situation”. He drops a bomb bigger than Rachel’s usual Jagerbomb drinking habits. For you see, David never felt the blow that Cupid delivered to Rachel that fateful New Year’s night, and once again, she’s devastated. Rachel is emotionally back to square one and feeling like a confused 16 year old teenage girl again. David eventually dies by his own hands. He plays a gig and pops his guitar string that lashes back at him and slits his neck wide open. Rachel is happy with this and thinks nothing more on David. Rachel decides to become an asexual cat lady and refuses to date another individual ever again. She eventually dies by her cats suffocating her in her sleep. My point is that nobody dies with anyone. The moment you die, it is eternal solitude. It’s best not to tease the delicate sensibilities with the thought of anyone ever being truly happy in life. Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” shows a view of life in a versatile choose you own adventure style. Atwood shows pain in life from many different angles. Through her characters Mary and John, we travel through twisted social circles and see a developing pattern of cynicism. A distinct comparison can be made between this composition and Atwood’s can be found in the first line of Atwood’s section “B” and David’s feelings towards Rachel. Both Mary and Rachel love their suitors, however this love is unrequited. Both women feel the distinct pain of rejection and sense of loss. The difference between these sections can be established by seeing John marry Madge. David never marries and dies by his own hand, strumming his guitar. In this essay, we see Quentin cheating as a similarity to John in Atwood’s work. John cheats on his wife, Madge, with his lover, Mary. We do not know who Quentin’s lover is but it is assured that he dies by his lover’s husband, similar yet different than that of John killing Mary, her on again off again lover James, and finally John himself. It strikes a comparison yet also shows at the same time the differences in their actions. Using Fred and Madge in Atwood’s work, we can see a similarity by using symbolism. Rachel and Anne’s home life was disrupted by her lack of homosexuality. It might as well have been a tidal wave considering the level of destruction caused by her realization that she was not a lesbian. Fred and Madge had a literal interpretation while Anne and Rachel had an emotional interpretation. In the second to last paragraph of Atwood’s piece of literature, she states, “Beginnings are always more fun. True connoisseurs however are known to favor the stretch in between, since it’s the hardest to do anything with.” (Atwood 1.) Rachel has yet to learn how to be a connoisseur of life. She simply fixates on the extreme positives and negatives in her life. Until she enjoys living just to live, she will never truly learn to favor that stretch. Yes, life is hard and painful, especially when emotions are involved. It’s a matter of reading between the lines to see the good that can occur if you simply stop and accept the good in life. Seeing miserable occurrence after occurrence is no way to live. Follow Rachel’s strife and you will suffer similar consequences to the choices you make in life. Or, you could learn from both pieces of literature and become a better significant other to someone from a few smaller lessons.