When We Talk About Love By Margaret Atwood Analysis
“I’ll tell you what real love is … I’ll give you a good example. And then you can draw your own conclusions” (Carver 144). Addressing the constant fear of existential nothingness, Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” and Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” explore how the actions of characters, however useless they may appear to be, can impact happiness. Both stories begin at a point of ignorance, and develop their messages as the characters have to face the real but distressing futility in life. Though the endless slog of life may be ultimately pointless, one’s outlook can see past this and be happy. It may still be a pointless life, however it is a happy one and that is all that is within our control. Oblivious to
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As Atwood writes in “Happy Endings,” “You’ll have to face it; the endings are the same however you slice it. Don’t be deluded by any other endings, they’re all fake, either deliberately fake, with malicious intent to deceive, or just motivated by excessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality” (Atwood 214). Forcing the reader to “face it” and notice that “the endings are the same however you slice it,” Atwood recognizes the futility of actions when the death constantly looms. Instead of being vague and fearful of expressing unwanted truths, Atwood is direct in her writing, showing how one must be introspective in order to better themself. In “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” reality is also faced seriously however it is done so with caution and uncertainty. After a moment of serenity, unprompted, Mel shares, “The terrible thing, the terrible thing is, but the good thing too, the saving grace, you might say, is that if something happened to one of us—excuse me for saying this—but if something happened to one of us tomorrow, I think the other one, the other person, would grieve for a while, you know, but then the surviving party would go out and love again, have someone soon enough” (Carver 145). Mel, unsure of the point he is trying to make, as demonstrated …show more content…
Though all the characters in the stories lead initially depressing lives, through their different outlooks, they can either end never doing anything or they could end
As Atwood writes in “Happy Endings,” “You’ll have to face it; the endings are the same however you slice it. Don’t be deluded by any other endings, they’re all fake, either deliberately fake, with malicious intent to deceive, or just motivated by excessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality” (Atwood 214). Forcing the reader to “face it” and notice that “the endings are the same however you slice it,” Atwood recognizes the futility of actions when the death constantly looms. Instead of being vague and fearful of expressing unwanted truths, Atwood is direct in her writing, showing how one must be introspective in order to better themself. In “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” reality is also faced seriously however it is done so with caution and uncertainty. After a moment of serenity, unprompted, Mel shares, “The terrible thing, the terrible thing is, but the good thing too, the saving grace, you might say, is that if something happened to one of us—excuse me for saying this—but if something happened to one of us tomorrow, I think the other one, the other person, would grieve for a while, you know, but then the surviving party would go out and love again, have someone soon enough” (Carver 145). Mel, unsure of the point he is trying to make, as demonstrated …show more content…
Though all the characters in the stories lead initially depressing lives, through their different outlooks, they can either end never doing anything or they could end