Happy Endings written by Margaret Atwood discusses the cruel stereotyping of women, the double standards practiced by the community, and the roles of men and women in society. Atwood employs the use of short anecdotes to denote the different possibilities that may arise from a commitment between a man and a woman. In the excerpt, Margaret Atwood has captured the trials and struggles women in society face in the hands of archaic cultures that make women feel unwanted and insecure. This article analyzes the tribulations that women undergo in society from Atwood’s perspective. The paper looks at the historical injustices that have gone through trying to realize their life goals.
First, Atwood portrays women as tools for male satisfaction. In scenario B, Mary repeatedly lets John to take advantage of him with the hope that he will become dependent on him and the two will eventually marry. “He merely uses her body for selfish pleasure and ego gratification.” Mary gives herself to John thinking that his lust will one day turn to true love and that they will live happily afterwards. Atwood uses this scenario to depict the fact that society deems it right and normal for a woman to trade of sex for a man’s time and affection especially when a man is hesitant to commit to a woman. Mary reaches her breaking point when she discovers that her partner is taking another woman out to dinner yet he has never done the same for her. Mary decides to commit suicide by overdosing with the hope that John will rescue her in time before she kicks the bucket. Unfortunately, John does not show up, and she dies as a result of the overdose.
In scenario E, the author denotes that idea women that women are purposed to be caregivers. When Madge’s husband dies, she devotes herself to charity work until her death. This shows the idea that Madge was entirely dedicated to her husband John before his demise. In the scene, Atwood also indicates that women are expected to accept the loss of their partners with understanding whereas their male counterparts are permitted to grieve for as long as they want. Women in society are, therefore, expected to live a life of service while their partners can do whatever pleases them.
In the short story, Margaret Atwood portrays the role of men as providers. In scenario C, we come across John an older man with a steady, respectable job, married to Madge, yet he has feelings for his workmate Mary. John is portrayed as a provider to his two children and wife with whom they bought a charming house when the real estate values were affordable. The fact that John has Mary’s apartment’s key also insinuates that he is the one who bought the house for her. He, thus, is the provider for Mary’s needs. In scenario B, we see John taking Madge out for dinner in a restaurant. This also shows that John is Madge’s provider
In the excerpt men also assume the cheating and sexual role. In scenario C, we see John cheating on his wife Madge with her workmate Mary. In the scene, Atwood illustrates the double standards applied to women when it comes to relationships. Mary satisfies her needs for love and affection through John, but he cannot leave his wife for her because they made a lifetime commitment. When John catches Mary with James his young lover who is full of life, he shoots both of them before committing suicide. Mary paid the ultimate price for doing what pleases her, but when John cheats on the mother of her children without her knowledge, it is accepted by society. Section B also illustrates the sexual role of men where we see John continuously using Mary to satisfy her sexual needs. Men in the text are also understood to be superior beings who partners have no other option rather than remaining submissive to them.
Olah, Richter, and Kotowska talk about a concept they refer to as de-standardization of the family life course whereby they allude that the family patterns are changing, especially in Europe where extensive changes have been experienced in the last fifty years. They observe:
Family patterns in Europe underwent extensive changes in the past fifty years. The early 1960s marked the end of the so-called “Golden Age of the Family” in Europe, with high marriage and birth rates, an relatively young ages, few divorces and low prevalence of nontraditional family forms. By the late 20th century, fertility rates declined well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman on average, marriage and parenthood have been delayed to more mature ages, new forms of couple relationships emerged while the propensity to marry decreased, and family dissolution became quite frequent even among couples with children (Page 2)
Olah, Richter, and Kotowska report indicates that gender roles are evolving over time. Traditionally, women were expected to be dependent on men for almost everything. In the political spheres, they were not allowed to engage in political activities, such as voting, presenting their names for voting, and seeking nominative positions in cabinet. Currently, the situation is different because we are having women in senior positions, such as German chancellor Angela Merkel, Croatian premier, and British premier Theresa May. The ideas and views of people in sexuality is also changing because the number of children, the type of marriage, and sexual relations are different from those seen in the 20th century.
Whereas the situation is changing in other parts of the world, the position of women in the Muslim world seems to be the same as those of the 19th and 20th century. Tausch and Heshmati observe, the masses in the Muslim world tend to support traditional gender roles. They note as follows:
Focusing on compulsory dress codes, gender segregation, and the revival of cruel punishments and outdated patriarchal and tribal models of social relations (Mir-Hosseini) or on forced marriages, polygamy, domestic violence, and honor killings, as well as patriarchal beliefs about the traditional roles of women in the family, and the symbolic wearing of the hijab, niqab and burqa (Norris and Inglehart, 2012) amounts to willing to grasp the nettle and touching a sore spot in the entire debate about migration, integration, and asylum
(page 8)
Their analysis shows that many traditional Muslim communities still allow men to take in multiple women. In religious life, women are barred from entering the mosque, or they are restricted to specific areas (Norris, and Inglehart 32). Chores in traditional Muslim societies are sub-divided with gender with the males looking after large livestock such as camels while females take care of small animals. Some of these misleading cultures also discourage female education.
In summary, Margaret Atwood has employed the use of anecdotes to illustrate the gender inequality and the different roles that women and men play in today’s society. She tactfully expresses the varying roles of men and women in the community often questioning why we expect some things from women and not men. Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood is an exciting piece of work that I would recommend to all avid readers. Her views are consistent with those of other researchers regarding the position of women in society
Works Cited
Atwood, Margaret. Happy Endings. New York: Cengage Publishing, 2012.
Norris, Peter, and Inglehart, Robert. Muslim integration into Western cultures: Between origins and destinations. Political Studies, 2012) 60.2, 228-251.
Olah, Livia, Richter, Rudolf, and Kotowska, Irena. The new roles of men and women and implications for families and societies. Families and Societies (2014) 11.4, 1-61. Available at http://www.familiesandsocieties.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/WP11OlahEtAl2014.pdf
Tausch, Arno, and Heshmati, Almas. Islamism and gender relations in the Muslim world as reflected in recent world values survey data. Discussion Papers (2016) 3.1, 1-27. Available at http://ftp.iza.org/dp9672.pdf
