Happy Endings | Themes

If one accepts Aristotle's classic definitions of comedy and tragedy, then the American Dream is a comedy; i.e., it is a story that begins in chaos and ends in peace. One of Atwood's aims in "Happy Endings" is to show the uncertainty and potential tragedy hovering around that treasured peaceful ending. The imaginary, yet worshipped, rigidity of the structure is often its downfall. The American Dream is just that, a dream, because in reality there is no blueprint for happiness, and as Atwood has said in several interviews, she thinks of every story as a new situation, which is true in...

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