Babette's Connection to Happy Endings

in "happy endings" by margaret atwood, she says that the focus of a story should not be on the what, but the how and the why. babette's story focuses mainly on the what. this is the contradiction. she remembers all the whats- the person, the room, the TV, the product she was trying to get, but none of the how. jack asks her how it was. she tells him she cant remember. jack asks where. she tells him nothing. her focus is on a what and a what and a what, not the how or why.