True Bliss in the Heart of Lit
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
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. 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. 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 th
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1395
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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