In the story "Happy Endings" Margaret Atwood writes about several different scenarios in which two characters either fall in love or die horrible deaths. According to Diane Andrews Henningfield, the characters and plot are undeveloped and is more like an outline of a short story than a short story at all. Henningfield is right about the characters being undeveloped as there is little expansion on their personality's. The plots of all six stories are just as undeveloped.
In the first story there is hardly any detail to paint a picture in the readers head, it is simply John and Mary die. There are not enough details to have a developed plot and to paint a scenario in the readers mind. Henningfield states that in the second story the characters are still underdeveloped, but are more advanced in the way Atwood describes John and Mary. Atwood uses the same names, yet depicts a completely different scenario for the characters. Atwood describes John and Mary's personality, as John is an egotistic maniac and Mary is deeply in love with him but he does not feel the same way. Atwood's stories are very predictable yet pertain to real life.
In the third short story, Atwood depicts another predictable outcome as everyone in the story dies as a result of a murder suicide. Characters are a little more advanced but nonetheless, underdeveloped. The fourth story is completely different from the other stories. In this one the characters are Fred and Madge are under the threat of a dangerous tidal wave, and have to overcome impossible odds to survive, and they do. This story is like every other story that has to do with a natural disaster. It focuses on a few specific characters and they survive. Again, Atwood's stories are bland and predictable.
The last story is different as well. It is about Fred and Madge being married and Fred gets sick with cancer and Madge takes care of him. Fred then dies and Madge devotes her life to charity work thereafter. The plot and scenario of the story is different, however everything is underdeveloped. The under detailed stories that Atwood writes are to prove a point to the reader that everything ends the same, which is you live and you die. Henningfield states that Atwood writes these underdeveloped stories to make the reader understand that so called "fairy tales" are works of fiction, and that everyone ultimately dies.
Atwood is writing these short stories with non-descriptive characters, so she can make people see what is important in life. The beginning and the journey of life are the most important things to enjoy, because in the end everyone ends up the same way.