While I am in the mood to confess things, I’ll out this tidbit to the world: I love reading Jane Austen fanfiction. Yeah, don’t judge.
Thing is, for most peple, it’s enough to know that Elizabeth and Darcy, Emma and Knightly, Anne and Frederick, end up married and live happily ever after at the end. Not for me. I want more. The first time I read about them, I couldn’t stop imaging what happened after the author decides the story is done. At the time I didn’t know fanfiction existed and when I discovered a companion series to Pride and Prejudice I was in heaven. And then I discovered the many sequels and prequels that have been written (I love the Internet).
So happily ever after turns out not to be the end after all. Because let’s face it, when people say happily ever after, they mean the end. Right? And is it? No! How can it be? I refuse to accept that.
Happily ever after sounds boring. I mean, clearly the happily ever after wasn’t interesting enough to write about. Everything is all wrapped up and its all down hill from there. And that makes me sad. Can you imagine Elizabeth and Darcy sitting around knitting, bored out of their gourds?
Happily ever after also implies that all the problems and issues magically disappear.Think about it with me for a second. Snow White and Prince Charming lived happily ever after. Really? I mean, they had stuff to deal with. At the very least, the evil stepmother was probably a bit upset. I’m sure she didn’t just say, oh well, I was really annoyed that Snow White is prettier than me and I wanted to kill her, but now, no bigs, I’m over it. Read the Grimm version, these people very likely had some serious therapy issues.
If my life was a story, what would the my happily ever after point be? When I got married to my own Mr. Darcy? When I had my first baby? When I graduated from college? At what point is everything neatly wrapped up? Never, I hope. So far things keep getting more and more interesting. And I hope they continue.
Karen Alma 