Daily puzzle

Put Happy Endings back in order

Seven beats from our edition of Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood, shuffled. Drag them, or use the arrows, until the story runs straight. No account, no streak to lose.

  1. A couple is introduced Atwood introduces a generic couple and invites the reader to choose how their story might unfold.
  2. The ideal life In the first scenario everything goes perfectly: love, careers, family, and a serene old age.
  3. Imbalance and betrayal Later versions add one-sided love, exploitation, and infidelity, complicating the tidy happiness.
  4. Disaster and illness Catastrophes and sickness intrude, showing how easily fortune can collapse into tragedy.
  5. Any variation you like The narrator opens the field to endless alternatives, but insists they all reach the same close.
  6. A shared destination Every storyline funnels toward the same fate, mortality, which no rearrangement of events can avoid.
  7. Motive over event Atwood argues that the meaning of fiction lies not in plot events but in the motives and reasons behind them.