True Bliss In The Heart Of Lit Essay, Research Paper
Happiness can be defined as a short-term feeling, such as a reaction to an enjoyable movie or an excellent song. It can also be the happiness one experiences while with a group of friends or while being intimate with a loved one. For others, happiness can be achieved through the purchase of material goods or receiving gifts. (I’m sure a brand new Chevrolet Corvette would make us all happy.) Unlike instant happiness, true bliss is something that is quite difficult to achieve. The contentment that one could feel in his or her life is usually a series of successes and small individual periods of happiness (usually worldly related) that give the impression of overall contentment. The perfect pleasure that one gets just by living out his or her life by being fully content about the present, totally secure about the future, and happy with the past is true bliss; but unfortunately, as evidenced by the stories, “Astronomer’s Wife, “The Chrysanthemums”, and “Hills Like White Elephants”, true bliss is almost impossible to achieve. The characters in these stories don’t feel very content in their individual situations and often wish for better lives to help suffice the emptiness they feel.
Sometimes you know you are unhappy, but you just can’t figure out what it is that will make your life content. You go on living like a machine – doing the same dreadful deeds everyday. You don’t really know how to change, but you know that you should have something different because this hellish existence called life begs to be alleviated by something new and exciting; something that will turn your whole existence upside down to start a fresh new beginning. You desire to be happy, but you don’t know how
This is similar to the situation that Mrs. Ames goes through in Kay Boyle’s “Astronomer’s Wife”. She awoke every morning to a person for whom she had to work diligently and in return, she was treated like a lowly servant by the man she calls a husband. Actually, a husband isn’t even the word for Professor Ames – to her, he is just the provider of income. It seems as though intimacy was non-existent. He was a dreamer with his head in the clouds. He was above Mrs. Ames intellectually and conceptually, and all she wanted was a person with whom she could relate.
This man came in the form of a plumber who was the total opposite of her husband. The metaphor used in the story to differentiate the two men’s personalities is that the lowly, hardworking plumber stayed underground with pipes while the dreaming, wishful astronomer worked on mountaintops looking up to the sky. “‘What in the world are we going to do?’ said the astronomer’s wife softly. There was a young and strange delight in asking questions to which true answers would be given. Everything the astronomer had ever said to her was a continuous query to which there could be no response.” This plumber was everything that gave Mrs. Ames happiness, but she will probably not act upon this happiness because, although the story is not complete, it seemed like the plumber would leave after finishing the job and Mrs. Ames would return to her dreary life and wretched husband. True bliss for her just didn’t seem plausible.
Something of the same concept applies to Elisa in “The Chrysanthemums”. Here, John Steinbeck tries to capture the idea of a woman who appears basically content with her life and marriage and only realizes that something is missing when a better opportunity or idea arises. The tinker who visited the farm to find work presented a new way of living that she just realized she wants. It is evidenced by Elisa saying that it “sounds like a nice way to live” when referring to how the tinker travels from Seattle to San Diego every year and can be seen during the conversation about living in nature.
“She was kneeling on the ground looking up at him. Her breast swelled passionately ‘Maybe I know,’ he said. Sometimes in the night in the wagon there–’
Elisa’s voice grew husky. She broke in on him. ‘I’ve never lived as you do, but I know what you mean. When the night is dark – why, the stars are sharp-pointed, and there’s quiet. Why, you rise up and up! Every pointed star gets driven into your body. It’s like that. Hot and sharp and – lovely.’”
This is what Elisa really desired to do – it was the happiness that she had been longing for and meeting this fellow (who could live out her dream) instilled a newfound contentment that even stunned her husband. Her bliss was soon crushed when she found out that the man had thrown away the one gift that symbolized her dream. The discarded chrysanthemums made her realize that being able to be one with nature and sleep under the stars every night would remain only a dream. Her true bliss could never be obtained.
Taking a different approach to happiness is a couple traveling in Spain in Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”. Ecstasy was once evident between the 2 lovers, but now that Jig is pregnant, there is much tension that is causing discontent in both of them. It is clear that they both want to return to the carefree love they once had, and the method that they think they can utilize to possess this joy again is to abort the child. “‘Then what will we do afterward,’” Jig asks. “‘We’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were before.’ ‘What makes you think so?’ ‘That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.’” The American evidently wants the operation to occur, but wants Jig to make the final decision. Jig has more mixed feelings about the abortion. Deep down she would like to keep the baby and stay with The American, but she is afraid that he will leave if she decides to have the baby. What she will settle for is The American’s love, and therefore, she wants him to make the decision.
The question here is – will both be able to become happy again after the abortion occurs? They are grown adults who “love each other” and if The American loves Jig so much, why does he claim that he will stay with her and love her just as before if she goes through with the operation? It seems as though he does not want to be attached to this girl and may eventually leave her because if he truly loved her, why not have the baby and get married? In The American’s mind, settling down with a baby and the woman “he loves” will not make him happy. This is basically the opposite of what Jig wants, but she is willing accept just a joyful, carefree relationship with him – anything so that he won’t leave her. This relationship that they both claim they want to return to will ultimately not lead to happiness and a life of mutual prosperity because he is somewhat unsure about his future with her; otherwise he would want to marry her and take care of his child. Again, true bliss will not occur in either of their lives.
Joy in one’s life is quite hard to obtain. The necessary components for one to become truly happy consist of being perfectly content with his or her life and being able to look forward to the future. To achieve full bliss is to live life to the fullest – to enjoy anything and everything that life has to offer and to take pride in one’s self. His or her situation needs to be totally harmonious – where the person doesn’t need or want anything (other than what he/she already has) because the person is perfectly content with life. These components are necessary to achieve a life full of true happiness, and as shown by the situations in the three aforementioned stories, true bliss is almost impossible to obtain.