Bliss

What is happiness? Is it something that can even be defined? Is it an object, or a feeling, or is it a state of mind? Is happiness always with us, or does it come and go like the weather? Does happiness change who we are as people.....and is this change a positive one? All these questions arise when I was reading "Bliss" by Katherine Mansfield.

Bertha the main character has the life we all yearn for. A beautiful house with a yard and a great view, a husband who gave her a beautiful child, money to buy extravagant nothings, and a social life we all desire. Together with her husband, they would throw dinner parties for all their other well to do friends. Bertha felt satisfied with her life, in fact, she felt more than satisfied.....she had a feeling of "Bliss, absolute bliss!".

Throughout the story, Bertha expresses how the little things in life please her. She finds odd pleasure in arranging a bowl of fruit to coordinate with her new carpet in the dining-room. "I must have some purple ones to bring the carpet up to the table". I propose that initially Bertha finds pleasure in this coordination of fruit and carpet, and in merely occupying her time, but as the story unfolds, she gradually realizes that her perfect life is really not that satisfying and fulfilling as she would like it to be.

Bertha felt that "in her bosom there was a bright glowing place "that shower of little sparks coming from it". I feel that to others, Bertha looked like she had it all. However, this burning sensation she was experiencing was that of security in her life. She had warmth and clothes and love for both herself and her baby, but nothing that she could get any gratification from in her life. She just lived comfortably day by day. This was all she knew of happiness.

Bertha was happy, but in a sense that she had stability, not that she was fulfilled in her life. Throughout the story, Bertha makes references to a pear tree in the yard. "There was a tall, slender pear tree in the fullest, richest bloom: it stood perfect, as though becalmed against the jade green sky". This pear tree I feel served as a metaphor for Berthas life....she saw how beautiful the leaves and the blossoms were, and saw herself as this tree. She gazed at this tree and began to realize that she possessed its beauty yet was not as blossomed as the one in the yard. She could see her potential in the tree, but had not reached it yet in herself.

Her realization that she was not in full bloom occurred during one of these extravagant dinner parties her and her husband had planned. As her guests were leaving the party, Bertha noticed her husband and the guest Miss Fulton in a compromising situation. She began to think that her husband may be having an affair with this woman, and that her life might come crashing in on her. "Oh, what is going to happen now," Bertha exclaimed (Mansfeild 134). She had no proof that an affair was accurate, yet the sight triggered much thought in Bertha...it was as if she had gained sexual awareness, not just the sexuality of others, but more importantly......her own sexuality. With this new awareness, I believe, I don't know if this leading to a different sexual orientation, or not, but from the feel of the story I felt that, that's what it was leading or alluding to. I'm not sure if I was the only one who felt