Happy Endings

by

Margaret Atwood

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Happy Endings makes teaching easy.

Fred Character Analysis

In scenario C, Madge marries Fred after her husband John commits suicide. In scenario D, Fred and Madge brave a tidal wave, while in scenario E, they deal with disease and illness. In each of these scenarios, Fred is basically interchangeable with John, a stock male character in a relationship with a stock female character. While the names might be swapped around, Fred’s character arc is essentially the same as John in each of the scenarios, with the goal always being to end up at A, the so-called “happy ending.”

Fred Quotes in Happy Endings

The Happy Endings quotes below are all either spoken by Fred or refer to Fred. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Sex and Gender Theme Icon
).
Happy Endings Quotes

Yes, but Fred has a bad heart. The rest of the story is about how kind and understanding they both are until Fred dies. Then Madge devotes herself to charity work until the end of A. If you like, it can be “Madge,” “cancer,” “guilty and confused,” and “bird watching.”

Related Characters: Madge, Fred
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Happy Endings LitChart as a printable PDF.
Happy Endings PDF

Fred Quotes in Happy Endings

The Happy Endings quotes below are all either spoken by Fred or refer to Fred. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Sex and Gender Theme Icon
).
Happy Endings Quotes

Yes, but Fred has a bad heart. The rest of the story is about how kind and understanding they both are until Fred dies. Then Madge devotes herself to charity work until the end of A. If you like, it can be “Madge,” “cancer,” “guilty and confused,” and “bird watching.”

Related Characters: Madge, Fred
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis: