Thy only authentic ending is the one provided here: John and Mary die, John and Mary die, John and Mary die.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that the ultimate truth about life often involves the inevitability of death.
Margaret Atwood's quote reflects on the harsh reality that all narratives, regardless of their twists and turns, culminate in the same unavoidable conclusion: death. By repeating 'John and Mary die', she emphasizes the universality of mortality, suggesting that all lives, despite their complexities and achievements, ultimately lead to the same end. This repetition underscores the cyclical nature of human existence and the repetitive themes found in life stories.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the themes of life and mortality in literature.
If I am good enough and quiet enough, perhaps after all they will let me go; but it’s not easy being quiet and good, it’s like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when you’ve already fallen over; you don’t seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength.
I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.
What else can I do? Once you've gone this far you aren't fit for anything else. Something happens to your mind. You're overqualified, overspecialized, and everybody knows it. Nobody in any other game would be crazy enough to hire me. I wouldn't even make a good ditch-digger, I'd start tearing apart the sewer-system, trying to pick-axe and unearth all those chthonic symbols - pipes, valves, cloacal conduits... No, no. I'll have to be a slave in the paper-mines for all time.
We love each other, that’s true whatever it means, but we aren’t good at it; for some it’s a talent, for others only an addiction.
I've learned quite a lot, over the years, by avoiding what I was supposed to be learning.
Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.
I wanted to write a book that talked about the emotions of children, which is the rainbow. We all have moods. We talk about being blue when we're sad, and being yellow when we're cowards, and when we're mad, we're red.
It was like Percy had faced death before, like he knew about grief. What mattered was listening. You didn’t need to say you were sorry. The only thing that helped was moving on—moving forward.
I was a child who went about in a world of colors... My friends, my companions, became women slowly; I became old in instants.
Only the person who has experienced light and darkness, war and peace, rise and fall, only that person has truly experienced life.
Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.
Oh, darling, I've been so miserable.
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