Beginning from the End: Assessing The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.

This article aims to promote discussions of The Marriage Plot which has been generally overlooked or set aside by academia since its publication in 2011. It begins with a look at the closing paragraphs of the text, and develops a number of interpretive theses that underline hidden complexities which could be key to further study. A number of the arguments are estranging, and perhaps highlight a darker subtext in the closing pages than is immediately apparent, whether or not they are valid, the presentation of these arguments hinges on the possibility of a complicit meta-textual activity on both character's part. Whether the subtle hints this construction relies on are sufficient remains an open question. Eventually, certain problems with the definition of the very problematic encountered leads to a wider analysis of the text's possible functions as a (meta-)meta-text. Certain elements which would naturally blind-side critics are touched upon, not because any answer can be offered here, but because they should - following the discussion that makes up the body of this article - appear worthy of further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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