The Theme of Happiness in Literature - Essay Example

due Introduction Happiness is an indispensable part of every individual’s life, and for this reason,most people strive to be happy. The subject of happiness has been a source of considerable debate with different people attempting to describe what, where, and how to find happiness. There are various sources of happiness, and it is up to everyone to identify these sources. Most notable as a source of happiness is an individual’s family. Family, be it parents, siblings, children, or even extended family, can be a vital source of happiness. On the other hand, people derive happiness in their work, wealth, talents, and even status in the society. This study paper explores the definition of happiness and the different sources of happiness through the perspectives of various authors and their works. The study paper will look at the subject of happiness using Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas, and William Faulkner’s Go down Moses. Through the various characters in the above mentioned books, the paper will examine happiness, its definition, and even source. Miller’s Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman focuses on the excruciating conflicts within one family. On a broader perspective, the novel tackles serious issues concerning American national values. Miller examines the cost of blind faith in the American dream which most families seem to have laid their interests and incomes. The play has several themes and this study paper will focus on the theme of happiness as portrayed by the author. According to play, the search for happiness has a straightforward response, which is for an individual to do what makes him, or her happy. Death of a Salesman has characters who do not understand the aspect of happiness and this act as an obstacle in their search for happiness. The fact that these characters do not know and understand themselves sufficiently blocks them from finding happiness. The author explores the theme of happiness through the characters lack of self realization and yet this is paramount in their quest for happiness. Through the characters’ setting of life, they are majorly positive in their pursuit of the American dream, which conflicts with them being happy. The characters have a chance to either pursue their material success or personal achievements, which include happiness. However, life setting in the play only allows the characters to chase the material success as they overlook their personal happiness. For instance, Happy, Biff, and Willy are concentrating on the American dream as an alternative to evaluating themselves which is the first step to finding happiness (Miller and Weales 98 ). This is evidenced by the following quote from Billy, “I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and the time to sit and smoke. And I looked at the pen and I thought, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become what I do not want to be....?” (Miller and Weales, 120). On the other hand, it is unclear whether Charley and Bernard are truly happy as the author uses them to serve as contracts to the Lomans. Bernard and Charley are aware of their strengths and have sufficient, self realization. The loss of self identity and sense of reality result in to unhappiness which the author portrays through Willy Loman who chases material success and ends up with despondency, pressure, and ultimately suicide. Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas Samuel Johnson’s narrative starts with the Abissian prince called Rasselas whose present life if full of happiness. Rasselas stays with his family and is entirely cut off from the rest of the world by nearby mountains, which makes them not understand how other people find and live in happiness. Out of curiosity, Rasselas together with the sister Nekayah and other people leave their comfort zones in search of how other people live in contentment. The outcome of the trip is that no individual on earth is truthfully happy. The author of Rasselas describes happiness in three different ways through the three main characters. Pekuah resorts to staying in the convent and according to her thinking this will make her happy. In short, happiness comes to those who devote their lives to God and for this reason; Pekuah decides to commit her life to convent life. Nekayah chooses to search for knowledge which according to her will bring her happiness (Johnson and Hardy 135). People all over the world have embraced the exploration for understanding as a way of finding happiness. On the other hand, Rasselas chooses his kingdom as a source for his happiness. This means that power and dominance can offer other people happiness. However, at the end of the narrative, the characters realize that no matter the angle they view happiness; it can never be fulfilled in the ways they had chosen. Eventually they all chose to return home to the happiness they have known all their life. Rasselas’s main theme of happiness is through the different characters decisions on what and where they can find happiness. The author revolves around the idiocy of cherishing the dream of ever attaining unalloyed contentment in a world that can never entirely gratify the characters’ desires. After the characters’ varied escapades while, in search of happiness, they all realize that happiness is something a person invents and does not rely on other factors. “Those that lie here stretched before us, the wise and the powerful of ancient times, warn us to remember the shortness of our present state; they were perhaps snatched away while they were busy, like us, in the choice of life.” “To me,” said the Princess, “the choice of life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity.” (Johnson and Hardy, 209). Happiness can only come from an individual’s efforts, and at this point, the characters in Rasselas opt to go home where everyone can find his or her own happiness. William Faulkner’s Go down Moses The book is a collection of short stories, which tell the amalgamated background of the McCaslin family, of the descendants of carothers McCaslin and the residents of the plantation he created. As much as each short story has its own plot the stories revolve around the subject of American Dream. The author connects the American dream and happiness through the various short stories. The American dream comprises of people being rich, successful, of high status, and popular. However, according to the McCaslins the American dream is in ownership and wealth. In search of happiness, the McCaslins live in the American dream, question the dream, and try to do away with of the dream that was being passed on to him through generations (Faulkner 23). Through McCaslins’ character in the book Go down Moses, American dream is a feeling that makes one happy and not a set of ideas. “[T]o the sheriff Lucas was just another nigger and both the sheriff and Lucas knew it, although only one of them knew that to Lucas the sheriff was a redneck without any reason for pride in his forbears nor hope for it in his descendants.” (Faulkner 35). Eventually, the author explores the aspect happiness in an effort to understand an individual’s responsibility in being happy. The characters’ lives are a clear indication of what happiness is and where people can find happiness. In this book, happiness comes when people try to identify what their desires are and how to achieve those dreams. For instance, hunting was Ike’s main dream, and from the book, we see that the chase and hunting are what made him so happy in many years. Ike realizes what will make him happy and chooses to go after it even though most people considered wealth (land) as what would have made him happy. When it comes to happiness, it is up to an individual to realize what makes him or her happy and then going after the dream. Unhappiness comes in when people follow or chase the set ideas that earlier generations set without understanding the personal effects of such opinions. In as much as the American dream is what most people consider as a source of happiness, it is relevant for people to realize the impact the American dream will have on their lives and happiness. Conclusion The above information is a clear suggestion that happiness is a skill that has to be found and learnt, and it begins from within. Self realization is paramount to finding happiness. According to Miller’s Death of a Salesman some characters were unhappy because they did not have proper self realization to understand their worth. Identifying the needs people have and going after them will also make them happy as was in Ike’s case. Since time immemorial, people have been unable to find happiness because they rely on the set ideas that have been passed on from creation. This set of opinions diverge people’s interests by letting them chase material success, which does not bring happiness. Characters in Rasselas believe that there is a better way of finding happiness rather than what they have, and they set off to identify these ways. However, it dawns on them that happiness starts with an individual and that chasing other things such as knowledge, religion, and wealth does not guarantee happiness. Not when somebody cannot evaluate his or her worth or what actually makes him or her happy. The choices of life and eternity are what will determine happiness of different people in different times. The books showed the different lives as possible ways of being in this world. All the characters in the books go out of their ways in search of happiness, but, in the end, they all choose to live their own lives which can bring them happiness. Everyone chooses something different, and there is no guarantee that their decisions will bring them happiness. The authors link happiness to the central themes of their work- American dream, through the use of characters and their search for something fulfilling. The end of each book signifies the importance of self realization in regards to happiness. Although the books leave the readers with no exact definition of happiness, the message about self identity and realization is obvious to anyone in search of happiness. References Faulkner, William. Go down, Moses. New York: Random House, 1942. Print. Johnson, S. and Hardy,J.P. The history of Rasselas: Prince of Abyssinia. Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks, 1999. Print. Miller, A. H. and Weales, G.C. Death of a salesman. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977. Print. Read More