Happy Endings by Margaret Setting - Essay Example

Analyzing Literary Terms in a Story Affiliation Analyzing Literary Terms in a Story Setting In the story “Happy Endings” byMargaret, she uses various settings throughout the story. In part B, the first setting of the story is Mary’s apartment. John visited Mary at her apartment twice a week, and she cooked for him dinner (Atwood, 1983). Also, the story happens in the workplace. People at work noticed that she had relationship issues. The restaurant was another setting when it was mentioned in the story that John was seen with another woman in a restaurant.

In part C, the events took place on Thursday evenings when Mary spent time with John and in her apartment. In part D, however, the setting is at Fred and Madge’s house as well as along the seashore. The overall setting, however, is Canada as mentioned in Part F by the author. Conversely, in “the rocking-horse winner” by Lawrence, the location was in a pleasant house that had a garden, where a boy and two little girls lived and also the workplace (Lawrence, 1926). Some of the events also take place at the race meeting where Paul and his uncle engaged in some gambling game before moving the story to Richmond Park.

As they drove home, other events occurred in the car, along the road, and at Uncle Oscar’s home. Other locations where the events occurred include the town where Paul’s mother visited everyday and also her friend’s studio where she used to work. At times, events occurred in the morning and afternoon, for example, the time Paul’s mother left for the market and in the afternoon when his uncle visited. Climax Throughout all the six segments, the turning point of the narrative was that despite the heart-wrecking stories told and situations exhibited by the characters, they have to die eventually.

In part A of the story, John and Mary experience stimulating and challenging life later in their marriage (Atwood, 1983). The climax in part B is where Mary realizes that she was only being used by John, she becomes desperate and starts to cry. Besides, John started to complain about food and takes another woman out. Mary finally gives up and poisons herself. In segment C, the climax is where Mary finds it boring to date a married man thus goes ahead to sleep with James and then John finds them.

He goes to purchase a handgun with the aim of harming the two. The narrative “the rocking-horse winner” reaches a climax somewhere in the middle when the boy, Paul, shows that he was tired with the whispers about money. In fact, things took a different direction when his outspoken mother accuses his father of being unlucky. As a result, Paul teams up with his uncle and starts to gamble in horse racing games. He becomes fond of the rocking horse and withdraws from his family thus affecting him mentally.

Also, another turning point is exhibited when Paul’s mother isolated herself from the family and doing things in secret. Theme Narratives are usually constructed on one or more primary ideas. The main themes of the story “happy endings” are challenges of relationships and marriage and death. However, Atwood constructed the narrative on several minor themes including murder, suicide, abuse in relationships, and middle-class values (Atwood, 1983). From segment A to F, the story revolves around the death of one or more characters regardless of the cause of the death.

In contrast, there are several themes in “the rocking-horse winner” by Lawrence. They include family, wealth, luck, gender, and the relationship between mother and son (Lawrence, 1926). From the story, it is evident that Paul and his mother were very close, and the boy cared so much about his mother. Paul succumbed to death because of the psychological trauma caused by his family’s desire for wealth. References Atwood, M. (1983). Happy Endings. Retrieved from https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/bellif2013-eng2001/files/2013/08/Happing-Endings Margaret-Atwood.

pdf Lawrence, D., H. (1926). The Rocking-Horse Winner. Retrieved from http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/rockwinr.html