The theme of love and relationship

The theme of love and relationship

The theme of love and relationship has been a point of focus in most romance novels written. This factor is seen to apply in Margret Atwood’s story on Happy Endings, which tells the story of different characters, their love story, and relationships. The story further covers the various issues that people experience in life, showing all stories in spite of the situation end in a similar manner. The story covers the subject of relationships providing a stimulating and interesting read that also offers solid advice to couples. The author uses a combination of second and third-person perspectives to present the story showing different kinds of relationships in society. In all versions of the story, the ultimate ending for the relationships is marriage. This essay offers a detailed analysis of Margret Atwood’s happy ending to show the incorporation of the theme of love and relationships in the story.

The story discusses various characters by describing the relationships they have with each other, where the focus is on love romance and marriage. This is shown at the beginning of the story through the author’s description of the relationship between Mary and John. The author starts the story by pointing out that John and Mary fell in love and got married *543. This line introduces the theme of love and relationships where Mary and John are seen to have a happy and loving relationship that ends in marriage.

The relationship described in this story is loving and successful, where Mary and John support each other and where the characters are said to have stimulating and challenging jobs, which shows that the couple is doing well and have good friends around them. The couple also has two children and goes on fun vacations together*543. This brings out a healthy and loving relationship that is used to portray what society considers as a healthy and successful relationship. Through this story, the author brings out the ideal perception of the relationship in society, thus clearly bringing out the theme of love and relationships.

The theme of love and relationships is also brought out through the relationship between Mary and John in part B of the story. This story presents a relationship where there is neither love nor respect between the couples. The lack of respect is brought out through the way John treats Mary throughout their relationship. As the author points out this relationship is not built on love because James only uses Mary for his sexual needs and self-gratification*543. This is because he never takes her out and only comes to her apartment twice a week and does not bother to help her with any preparations or cleaning up. As the author points out, John only eats dinner, fucks her, and then goes to sleep, leaving her tidying up and leaves the first thing in the morning without noticing the effort she puts towards looking good for him*543. Furthermore, during intercourse, he does not seem as invested because he leaves her to do all the work, thus showing a one-sided relationship. The author uses this story to show a dysfunctional relationship where love is not mutual.

The relationship between John and Mary in option B is also shown to be toxic. The reason why Mary tolerates this relationship despite it being emotionally abusive is that she believes John will change and marry her. This is a behavior that Mary’s friend condemns, terming John, a rat, a pig, and a dog, but she does not believe that he is terrible for her*544. She believes that beneath t all the bad, there is a nice person in John, and just like a butterfly emerges from a cocoon, he will eventually change if she keeps pushing. The theme of love and relationships is further brought out through this story where Mary’s friend inform her that John has been taking another woman named Madge*544. This matter results in Mary committing suicide in the hope that John will get her to the hospital in time and repent his misdeeds. This story is used to show toxic relationships and the dangers of unrequited love, where the relationship resulted in Mary’s death because they were not on the same page.

Another type of relationship brought out in the story is a relationship between an older man and a young lady. This story is used to show a relationship motivated by material gain rather than genuine love. In this story, Mary has relations with a man called John but is in love with another man named James*544. However, John is also a married man, and thus this brings out the theme of lack of trust and infidelity in romantic relationships. This story is also used to bring out the challenges experienced in relationships and the cycle of life where although both Mary and John have other people in their life, they are still messing with which other. Relationships are therefore presented as complicated, primarily because, in the end, John kills both Mary and James because he gets jealous. The author successfully brings out the theme of love and relationships by showing different scenarios that represent the relationships in the world today.