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 by reading the short story "Bliss" by Katherine Mansfield.
Bertha the main character in the play 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 extravigant nothings, and a social life 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!"(Mansfeild 115).
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 tot he table"(Mansfeild 117). I propose that initially Bertha finds pleasure in this corrdination 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" (Mansfeild 116). 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 fullfilled 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" (Mansfeild 121). 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 possed it's 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 occured during one of these extravegant dinner parites 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 afair 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.
What would she do if her husband was cheating with another woman? Bertha looked to the pear tree and saw it standing in the yard as beautiful as before. She realized that no matter what happened, she was still beautiful, and she could grow and thrive in other situations
Bertha I feel began to see that there was more to life than her husband and their house with all the parties. She saw that herself alone was a wonderful thing, and that she had finally found happiness in herself....not with her makebelieve happiness in monetary things. I feel that Bertha began to envision her life without her husband, knowing that she would be desired by many other men. This pleased her, and excited her because she had never looked for happiness outside of her home, and the thoughts she was having provoked this exploration in her life. She was finally seeing her branches blossom.
The realization that her husband was probably having an affair was a good thing in Bertha's life. At the end of the story, Bertha goes to look out at her pear tree and sees that it is still standing strong and tall...just like it always had. "But the pear tree was as lovely as ever and as full of flower and as still" (Mansfield 135). When most people invision their partner having a relationship with another individual, it is seen as a sad and hurtful time period for that person. In Bertha's case however, she saw how her favorite pear tree could stand alone proudly, day after day, and felt she could easily do the same.
The story never elaborates as to what happens to Bertha and in what direction her life takes her, although I have made some predictions. I think Bertha might find energy in the symbol of a pear tree and might leave her husband with the baby. Perhaps she will find another man that will allow her to blossom into who she really wants to be inside, rather than play "rich" in an unsatisfying family setting. She will quite possibly then be allowed to spend time with her child, and partake megar activities that seemed petty and unimportant in her previous well-to-do lifestyle. Her new man can then bring to her the finer things in life, and together they can grow. Just like the old pear tree.
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What affects pleasure? STRESS......
Author: Jennifer Meyers
BLISS