Every human being is seeking ways to live a happy and fulfilling life. People may be happy when their state most closely corresponds to their inner satisfaction. However, there is no clear explanation that could clarify the notion of absolute happiness. In this paper, happiness will be considered not as an ultimate goal in life but as an individual’s way of life, which is manifested in their activities.
Ethics of Aristotle
Eternal questions about how to live a happy life have been appealing to people for many years. In ancient ethics, the first philosopher to investigate the concept of happiness was Aristotle. In Nicomachean Ethics, he argues that happiness consists in the “activity of the soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are several virtues, in accordance with the best and most complete virtue” (Bielskis et al., 2020, p. 58). Consequently, the source of absolute happiness underlies the active exercise of one’s virtue. The motive of virtue implies that every action has a good purpose. Every craft and every method of inquiry, as well as every action and deliberate choice, seem to seek some good. The cultivation of virtues should be seen as a lifelong practice that may lead to an absolute blessing, ultimate good, and self-sufficiency.
The Link of Happiness and Virtue
The desire of a person to commit good deeds and put meaning in them bestows their life awareness and contemplation. The human good is determined by the human function insofar as determined by the activities that distinguish human beings from other living things (Aristotle & Irwin, 2019). It follows that happiness is not the ultimate goal but the path to it. Significant is not what aim the individual pursues but what methods they use to achieve it. As the philosopher claims, “the function or exercise of that which is better is higher and more conducive to happiness” (Aristotle, 1906, p. 337). The crucial key to happiness is a conscious attitude to one’s actions and activities that make up the individual’s life.
Happiness may lie in activities that develop a person’s prudence, in virtuous actions, and deep contemplation. Moran (2018, p. 92) argues that “the greatest happiness is achieved by the man who performs the activity that displays the greatest excellence characteristic of a human being.” Happiness, according to Aristotle, is the satisfaction that a person achieves with the maximum manifestation of their essence, which is initially based on goodness. Virtue, that is, striving for the highest good, is the guarantee of happiness. At the same time, virtue is expressed in finding a balance between things to avoid excess or scarcity. It is in the balance, according to Aristotle, that the completeness of the human personality lies, and only through balance can a person find true self-satisfaction. Aristotle finds a connection between the greatest good and the natural balance of things. The philosopher suggests that every conscientious person should “make every effort to live in the exercise of the highest of our facilities” (Aristotle, 1906, p. 340). The pursuit of happiness is the search for real natural truth, and this is the fundamental calling of the human being.
Therefore, happiness may be a sublimation of all human goods and virtues. Happiness, then, is something complete and self-sufficient since it is the end of what is doable in action (Aristotle, 1906). However, some benefits and blessings might be completely different depending on the circumstances and conditions in which the individual is living. In other words, human benefits can be determined by the needs and requirements of a person. For instance, health may be taken for granted by a healthy person, yet a person who is exhausted by illness dreams of healing. Consequently, human virtue may be an individual phenomenon determined by one’s needs and conditions.
Conclusion
To summarize the above arguments, happiness is a complex phenomenon that philosophers have studied since ancient times. Aristotle believed that happiness involves a life lived in accordance with reason and virtue. Aristotle claimed that every action might have a good intention, which constitutes the general well-being and blessing. Therefore, human beings should be eager to develop the noblest parts of their soul, which might subsequently lead them to absolute and unconditional happiness. Happiness may lie in activities that develop a person’s prudence and deep reflection. At any time and under any circumstance in our life, people should practice virtue and thus reflect on life.
Aristotle. (1906). The Nicomachean Ethics. (Peters, F. H., Trans.). Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.
Bielskis, A., Leontsini, E., Knight, K., & Sgarbi, M. (2020). Virtue ethics and contemporary Aristotelianism: Modernity, conflict and politics (Bloomsbury studies in the Aristotelian tradition). Bloomsbury Academic.
“What seems like a blessing may be a curse. What seems like a curse may be a blessing” (Izzy Ch.1). The quote is a Chinese idiom that depicts the changes that life offers. These changes are endless and their mystery is hard to fathom.
It helps in understanding that life should be taken each step at a time since things which seem disastrous could turn otherwise while those that appear good could be quite the opposite. This statement interests me since it contains a timely advice for people who particularly live in the present. The author for instance, turned his talent of storytelling to earn a livelihood for him and his family.
Unexpectedly, what he had counted as a fortune turned into a curse when he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and woke up from surgery with damaged vocal cords. He had lost the most precious thing he possessed; his voice.
Interesting, what had appeared to be a blessing was now a curse. Deprived of his artistic instrument and a source of livelihood, the author learns how to become happy despite the loss. This is a great lesson that can be learnt, that things do not always turn to be the way they seem.
The general story told by a professional storyteller depicts a twist of fate where he lost his only source of livelihood since he could no longer speak. From his tale, one could evaluate his or her personal life and identify some instances of twists of fate to understand that life changes could be the secret to happiness.
One could suffer a great loss in life, but gain insight from the experience to ultimately help in self-discovery. Therefore, it is essential to pursue happiness irrespective of what life offers to us. Our lost treasures could find us wisdom and eventually, happiness. From a personal experience, Izzy ben Joel story on ‘The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness’ resonates with my life.
It was during a summer afternoon when my friends invited me for a birthday party some miles away from my home. I was so excited to attend the party, having bought new clothes and gifts to show off. However, my parents did not like the idea and they delayed me by demanding me to perform some home chores.
Besides, my mother insisted on giving me some advice on how i should conduct myself at the party and avoid peer influence. This even made me more furious since I was getting late. When I went to board the train, it had already left half an hour ago. I felt a wave of disgust slapping my entire body. I hated my parents for this and swore not to utter a word to them when I got back home.
That evening, we received some news that the celebration came to a sudden when fire broke out in the premises. Some of the attendants I knew well were badly wounded and incapacitated while others lost their lives. This was a lesson well learnt that “What seems like a blessing may be a curse.
What seems like a curse may be a blessing” (Izzy Ch.1). It was a twist of fate that helped me to take things as they come and made me realize the secret to happiness; that the lost horse could become a blessing to me just the way I had lost a fun moment with my friends, only to evade an unforeseen disaster.
Work Cited
Izzy, Joel. The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness. New York: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005. Print.
The following essay is concerned with the book’ The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness’ by Joel Ben Izzy. In his book, the author shares the experiences that he goes through in his life.
Joel compares his life with that of King Solomon who becomes a beggar after losing his kingdom. Both Solomon and Joel experience many difficulties. Joel was a great story teller until when he becomes a cancer patient. He wakes up after surgery only to realize that he can’t speak. He eventually finds the meaning of true happiness (Lazzy, 12).
Quote that interests me
The quote from Joel Ben Izzy’s book “The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness” that interests me is, “In this life you have a choice; You can laugh along with God, or you can cry all alone” (Lazzy, pg. 1). Joel Ben Izzy is taught this quote by his father (Izzy 31). This quote means that whatever happens in our lives is as a result of the choices that we make. In other words, we are in charge of our lives no matter what we face.
Joel Ben Izzy is determined to chase after his dream despite losing his voice following a surgery. Cancer is a chronic illness because it persists for many years. At one time, Joel Ben Izzy is a great storyteller and the next moment, he finds himself in hospital diagnosed with cancer and wonders whether or not he will ever speak again. Indeed, he never plans that he could ever get sick.
However, he hopes that he will speak once again and realize his life dreams. This quote is of particular interest as it encourages me that without a reason to press on and a dream, one can’t make it in life. Determination is thus the key towards realizing our full potentials. It is having a reason to chase our dreams despite the odds.
Joel Ben Izzy has a reason and a dream to fight for. He believes in himself and his dream, and stays focused, never goes off-road and ignores the challenges that he is facing. He makes a choice never to give up and he is optimistic that success is just around the corner.
His dreams are thus bigger than his present problems. This quote teaches me that it is worth fighting for our dreams despite the challenges that we face.
How the story resonates in my life
Joel Ben’s story,’ The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness’ resonates in my life. The following is a personal story of my life; I had the best childhood before my parents began getting sick.
This comfortable life was quite short lived though. My mother started ailing and my father too started ailing soon after. My mother was hospitalized for many months. When she got better and discharged, my father got sick and was admitted for several months.
This forced him to quit his job as he was too weak. Two months later, he passed on. I was thus brought up by a single mother. We became the poorest in the surrounding community as my mother was not employed. My primary school life was one of the most difficult ones.
Besides, I was sent home severally due to lack of school fees. Through the sponsorship from the government, I managed to complete my studies. I passed with good grades. I got a scholarship to Master in Accounting from Harvard Business School and my life drastically changed from worse to good.
I now hope to travel all over encouraging people that they can make it life in spite of their pasts. Just like Joel Ben Izzy, I made a choice never to let the challenges determine my future destiny. Currently, i am a manager in a leading company in the banking industry.
Aristotle’s View of Ethics and Happiness. The ‘functionalist’ approach of Aristotle’s ethics
Aristotle guarantees that to find the human great, we should recognize the capacity of an individual. He contends that human capacity is solely a sane action (Aristotle et al., 2004). Our virtue is hence reasonable movement performed well, which Aristotle interprets as meaning as per temperance. ‘Function’ may not mean reason yet rather a method of working. The manner in which people act is by settling on logical decisions. The human great is not simply a consequence of balanced decision but comprises in it. Aristotle’s demands that there are no known ethics and that any moral hypothesis should be situated to a limited extent on comprehension of psychology and the real factors in daily human existence (Aristotle et al., 2004).
Aristotle’s definition of happiness and how does it differ from common sense use of the term ‘happiness’
Happiness is characterized as the constant consideration of generally accepted facts as indicated by the philosopher (Aristotle et al., 2004). It is the most noteworthy great and the end toward which all human action is coordinated. Aristotle recognizes that such factors can influence it as material conditions, place in the public eye, and even looks (Aristotle et al., 2004). In any case, an individual keeps up with that by carrying on with their life to the full as per the fundamental nature as sane creatures. Along these lines, an individual will undoubtedly become happy. Thus, happiness is more an issue of conduct and of propensity than of karma. It goes against the common thought that happiness does not result from great destiny or other outer conditions or that bliss is an instance of the mind.
The happy person for Aristotle. Why cannot say of children that they are ‘happy’
One accomplishes bliss by a temperate life and the improvement of reason and the personnel of hypothetical insight. An individual who develops such practices and propensities can bear his hardships with equilibrium and viewpoint and, consequently, can never be really sad. Thus, a child who did not have an opportunity to show his virtue cannot be “happy.”
Socrates’ position on what is the good life and Aristotle’s conception of Happiness
Socrates presented a more targeted perspective on happiness. He set forth the thought that joy is a delight in magnificence and great. He presented the possibility that the best life is one whereby an individual seeks the joy of practicing scholarly ideals. This is a contention that Aristotle did not support since, forhim, delight and pain impact human activities, which will then, at that point, impact happiness (Aristotle et al., 2004).
Reference
Aristotle. (2004). The Nicomachean Ethics. (T. J. A. K., H. Tredennick, & J. Barnes, Eds.). Penguin Books.
The lower goods are actions or things that are needed to achieve happiness. For example, a child will ask for a toy for several months, and when he receives it, he will feel joy. The toy in this example is lower good in Aristotle’s hierarchy. In this example, the child has not yet fully formed as a person and does not have a vision for the future. Therefore, happiness for a child is something as simple as a toy.
However, for adults, things are different. Let’s say a middle-aged married man wants to buy a house. He wants to buy a house so that he and his family have a place to live and don’t have to pay rent. He wants stability and confidence to keep his children safe. He wants to live long with his family in the house he bought. All these are lower goods in the understanding of Aristotle. They are all sequential and cause each other. Lower goods are actions or things that make people feel they are on the right path. Therefore, people act and behave accordingly in order to obtain and achieve lower goods. However, what is in the end of the path?
Aristotle believed that the ultimate goal of every human being is happiness. He arranged human desires in hierarchy where happiness is placed on top. Happiness is defined by Aristotle as eudaimonia. This word is translated into English as “happiness”, but in fact, it gives a deeper meaning – “wholeness” (Clark and Poortenga 1). If we give more meaning to this word, then we can understand how Aristotle defined “happiness”. If happiness is “wholeness”, then for a person to become happy, it is necessary to become “whole”. And then the question arises: What does it take to become whole? Thus, all a person has to do to become whole is lower goods. If a person wants to become an architect, then first he must learn to draw. Then, one has to get a higher education. After, the person has to work as an architect, and create architectural drawings of buildings. Only then, a person can be called an architect. What was all this for? All these efforts were made to make a person feel fulfilled and become happy. Simply put, the lower goods are steps in achieving the main goal – happiness.
Work Cited
Clark, Kelly & Anne Poortenga. The Story of Ethics: Fulfilling Our Human Nature. Pearson, 2002.
Aristotle is the creator of a qualitatively new system of knowledge that had not previously existed in the ancient world. Aristotle’s creation of eudemonism as a felicitous integral doctrine, hierarchized concerning the benefits, laid the systemic basis for the science of happiness. It should be noted that the concept of virtue and how the philosopher interpreted it. Therefore, virtue is a quality of the soul; its cultivation and manifestation are equivalent to conscience.Virtue, according to Aristotle, is an acquired self-consciousness of moderation that keeps people from mistakes and failures (Guthrie 56). People are made moral and virtuous by an appropriate polity and upbringing.
Thus, Aristotle asserts that a virtuous, that is, an educated person, lives and acts according to their conscience because a knowledgeable and rational soul guides them. Moral virtue, according to Aristotle, is the habit of making the right choices. Furthermore, Aristotle believed that moral virtue is the primary means to happiness and the most important of all things that are really good for people (Guthrie 71). Moreover, Aristotle emphasized that moral virtues are also an unlimited good. There are too many of them, and habits of choosing right are never too firmly formed.
Consequently, Aristotle created a theory of virtue, constituting ethics in its proper and narrow sense as a field of knowledge that studies ethical, ethos-related, moral virtues. Therefore, virtue, in the philosopher’s interpretation, is associated with happiness, which is identical to the highest good (Guthrie 72). At the same time, the correlation also appears in the fact that moral virtue is also a way to happiness and an essential part of happiness itself. In this way, Aristotle first defined happiness as the activity of the soul in the fullness of virtue, and he described virtue as that which leads to happiness.
Work Cited
Guthrie, William Keith Chambers. The Greek philosophers: from Thales to Aristotle. Routledge, 2012.
Human happiness is an important topic that has been discussed for millennia, with philosophers along with ordinary people trying to find the key to this feeling. While some people consider true happened coming from the inside, others believe that it comes from the outside environment. Similar to the philosophers of his time, St. Augustine defined happiness as the condition everyone covets. However, unlike hedonists, St. Augustine put emphasis on one’s soul and spiritual connection with God to be happy rather than material goods and body.
Discussion
St. Augustine had his perspective on happiness and believed that every person yearned to feel happy. However, in his writings, he emphasized the following: “You want to be happy; look for something better than your soul itself” (Arandia 55). With this, he wanted to show people that material objects will not lead to true satisfaction and, instead, the person should find something more meaningful. Another point made by St. Augustine is that “better is He who has made heaven and earth; He it is whom you are to behold and possess” (Arandia 56). Therefore, the author claimed that happiness exists within every person and God is there to navigate them. I agree with this thought and think that in pursuit of happiness, one should focus on what is genuinely valuable to them.
Conclusion
Hence, St. Augustine, in contrast to hedonists, stressed the importance of one’s soul and spiritual relationship with God in order to be happy rather than worldly possessions and body. If a person desires to be happy, they should search for something bigger than their soul, he highlighted in his works. He intended for this to serve as a reminder to individuals that worthwhile pursuits should come before material possessions if they are to provide lasting fulfillment. I concur with this idea and believe that in seeking happiness, one should prioritize what is truly important to them.
Work Cited
Arandia, Marcos. Competing Visions: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy. U.S.: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2015.
The theme of a woman’s strives to discover her true self in a male-centered world has become especially popular in feminist literature, during the course of 19th and early 20th centuries. Moreover, as we will show later in this paper, during the course of this historical period, many writers that have never been thought of as ardent promoters of feminist agenda (such as Zora Neale Hurston and Gustave Flaubert), would also incorporate this theme into their novels, even though that they tended to explore it from rather apolitical perspectives. In its turn, this can be explained by the fact that, during the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the influence of Christianity, which traditionally served as an ideological justification for socio-political policies in Western countries being based on the principle of male domination, has been drastically undermined.
In its turn, this explains the fact why Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” does not only point out at practical effects of women being set on the path of existential liberation from patriarchic oppressiveness, by they also provide us with the clue as to what represent obstacles, on such women’s path. Moreover, despite both novels’ clearly defined feminist overtones, they nevertheless depict women’s quest to attain happiness as such that cannot be discussed outside of their ability to pursue a romantic relationship with men, which in its turn, does not allow us to refer to both novels as being “progressive”, in strictly feminist context of this word. In this paper, we will aim at exploring this thesis to a further extent, while revealing the theme of conventional morality vs. women’s chances to attain happiness, clearly present in both works, as being affected by particularities of both authors’ gender affiliation and also by their stance on issues of socio-political importance. In its turn, this will allow us to identify major similarities and differences between Hurston and Flaubert’s views on what represents the very essence of the conflict between the concepts of love and independence.
The close analysis of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “Madame Bovary”, reveal Hurston and Flaubert’s attitude towards the notion of “women’s liberation” as being conceptually different. Whereas, Hurston portrays Janie as an idealistic woman, who pays close attention to social and political developments in America, during the course of “rolling twenties”, Flaubert presents Emma as an individual, whose psychological anxieties originate out of her hypertrophied sense of personal ego, which is why Emma’s obsession with “existential sophism” appears as being essentially artificial. Despite the fact that both characters seek the fulfillment of their romantic dreams of being with men they could truly love, Jamie associates such love with emotional closeness and with what she perceives as “social productiveness”, while Emma tends to think of love merely as the synonym of blind passion. It is not by an accident that, while observing a bee landing on pear tree flower, Jamie experiences an epiphany on the actual meaning of marriage and romantic relationship, in general: “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arches to meet the loving embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation” (Hurston 25).
In Janie’s eyes, such a relationship’s most distinctive quality is harmony. In its turn, this explains why, when compared to Emma, Janie has proven herself as being much more capable of enduring hardships – her idealistic outlook on surrounding reality endowed her with existential stoicism. The attentive reader will notice the fact that it was named when Tea Cake offered Janie to play checkers when she looked upon him as someone who might qualify for being the subject of her romantic affection: “He set it up and began to show her and she found herself glowing inside. Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play” (Hurston 220). On the other hand, Flaubert’s Emma associates emotional closeness with boredom – partially, due to Charles’ lack of intellectual wits and partially, due to the excessive amounts of testosterone running through her veins: “Emma was growing difficult, capricious. She ordered dishes for herself, then she did not touch them; one day drank only pure milk, the next cup of tea by the dozen. Often she persisted in not going out, then, stifling, threw open the windows and put on light dresses. Charles was boring her to tears” (Flaubert 110). The purely physiological essence of Emma’s existential inadequacy, which she thought was deriving out of her inability to find a “worthy” man, is being illustrated by the fact that periodically, she tended to become overly religious, while never ceasing to remain a woman endowed with rather ravenous sexual appetites.
In his famous book “Sex and Character”, Otto Weininger draws a direct link between the strength of a woman’s sexuality and the degree of her religiosity, while pointing out the fact that prostitutes have traditionally been known for the strength of their religious beliefs, whatever the illogical it might sound: “Female mysticism, when it is anything more than mere superstition, is either thinly veiled sexuality or it is a mere passive and unconscious acceptance of man’s religious views…The lover is readily transformed into a Savior; very readily the Savior becomes the lover… It is not only prostitutes who belong to the prostitute type; very many so-called respectable girls and married women belong to it… Prostitution cannot be considered as a state into which men have seduced women. Where there is no inclination for a certain course, the course will not be adopted” (Weininger Ch. 16).
Therefore, the fact that by the end of Flaubert’s book, Emma had offered her body for money, in order to at least partially cover the accumulated debts, cannot be thought of as the mere indication of Emma’s desperateness – by doing it, Emma had revealed that all her problems stemmed from deep inconsistency between her natural inclinations and her social status as mother and wife: “You are indeed a man; you have everything to make one love you. But we’ll begin again, won’t we? We will love one another… You must lend me three thousand francs” (Flaubert 506). Thus, our definition of the most important difference between the characters of Janie and Emma will sound as follows: whereas, Janie never ceased to be a woman in both: the physiological and psychological context of these words, Emma was only a woman in terms of physiology while possessing an essentially masculine mentality, which in its turn, explains her aversion to the notion of motherhood and her tendency to indulge in sexual escapades with just about anyone she would come across. Such our definition provides us with further insight into the particularities of both characters’ search for their true selves.
It is important to understand that the social restrictions, Janie had to deal with, throughout her life, corresponded to her racial affiliation. Being a Black woman, Janie never ceased suffering from institutionalized racism, which marked America’s socio-political realities in the twenties and thirties. In her dialogues with Janie, Nanny had always kept on trying to instill her granddaughter with the cautious attitude towards these realities: “You know, honey, us colored folks is branches without roots and that makes things come round in queer ways. You in particular” (Hurston 21).
This, however, did not cause Janie to embrace bitterness, as an integral part of her existence. Even though very often, throughout her life, Janie had to deal with frustration; she never lost her sense of optimism, simply because she was capable of not focusing on life’s negativity, as her full-time occupation. Also, she never felt under the spell of fundamentalist Christianity, as was the case with many Black women of her time, who dealt with the same set of unfortunate circumstances. Janie’s intellectual integrity allowed her to reject the “good book” due to its ideological oppressiveness: “All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise, they would not be worshipped. Through indiscriminate suffering, men know fear and fear is the most divine emotion” (Hurston 233). Jamie was willing to stoically endure life’s hardships, but she never wanted to turn it into a fetish. Being a spiritually liberated individual, Jamie always strived to evaluate people for unique qualities of their personality rather than for their talent in accumulating material riches.
This significantly differs Janie from Flaubert’s Emma, who could not think of people, outside of their social status. This is the reason why the very thought of socializing with local farmers was utterly repulsive to Emma: “My wife doesn’t care about it (making friends with locals)’ said Charles; ‘although she has been advised to take exercise, she prefers always sitting in her room reading” (Flaubert 137). This is the reason why Emma becomes attracted to Rodolphe Boulanger, only after she had found out that he is rather a well-off individual: “Yet it seems to me,’ said Emma, ‘that you are not to be pitied.’ ‘Ah! you think so?’ said Rodolphe. ‘For, after all,’ she went on, ‘you are free’ – she hesitated, ‘rich” (Flaubert 229). Thus, we can safely suggest that Emma did not fully understand the true nature of her quest for “romance” because it is only the men whom she considered as “sophisticate” that we’re able to win her attention. However, Emma never thought of the concept of sophistication as a “thing in itself”, while always believing that only rich people could really be free, and therefore sophisticate. Such Emma’s attitude is diametrically opposed to the one of Janie, who associated men’s degree of sophistication with their ability to act in a spontaneous manner.
It was namely Tea Cake’s behavioral unpretentiousness and his genuine love for her that had won Janie’s heart: “Janie awoke next morning by feeling Tea Cake almost kissing her breath away. Holding her and caressing her as if he feared she might escape his grasp and fly away. Then he must dress hurriedly and get to his job on time. He wouldn’t let her get him any breakfast at all. He wanted her to get her rest. He made her stay where she was” (Hurston 199). Unlike Jody, Tea Cake never forced Janie to do anything against her will and she paid him with the same token of respect while adopting rather a careless attitude towards his addiction to gambling. Despite the fact that Tea Cake was never able to provide Janie with what her Nanny used to refer to as “security of family living”, he continued to appreciate her personality, until the very time when he was bitten by a rabid dog, with the thought of controlling her never even coming to his mind. In other words, even though her stay with Tea Cake was comparatively short, for Janie it felt like if it had lasted a lifetime, due to the sheer intensity of both characters’ relationship.
As it appears from reading Flaubert’s novel, Emma also never stopped searching for intensity in her romantic relationships. However, she was never able to find it, because, unlike Jamie, she could not understand a simple fact that only mutual respect, on the part of both romancing parties, can result in the issuance of such intensity. The particularities of Emma’s sexuality had prompted her to seek sensual satisfaction in being dominated or in exercising domination over her partners, while naively confusing sexual passion with love. After having had sexual intercourse with Rodolphe for the first time, Emma became overwhelmed with joy, but not due to a particular intensity of her sexual experience, but because she had come to the conclusion that, from now on, she would be able to exercise a “sexual control” over her lover: “She repeated, ‘I have a lover! a lover!’ delighting at the idea as if a second puberty had come to her…She was entering upon marvels where all would be a passion, ecstasy, delirium” (Flaubert 266).
Apparently, Emma was simply incapable of perceiving reality, other than through the lenses of social stratification, which is why; she subconsciously strived to utilize her physical attractiveness as the mean of exercising control over men she would become romantically involved with. As a result, Emma’s romantic liaisons never lasted for too long, simply because she wanted to achieve existential liberation by the mean of subjecting others to her dominance, and as practice shows, such strategy can hardly be thought of as absolutely appropriate, within the context of man and woman building a relationship. After having realized that her approach towards winning men’s attention has failed, Emma decided to do something entirely opposite – she has offered both: Leon and Rodolphe, to become sovereign masters of her soul and body, in exchange for money. It is needless to say, of course, that such Emma’s offer could not be taken seriously, especially given the fact that she continued to remain married to Charles.
Despite Emma’s apparent sophistication (she used to read a lot), she could never grasp the simple truth that continuity is the last signifier of the “master-servant” type of relationship. Therefore, it would be wrong to refer to Emma as the victim of “male sexism” – it is her own hypertrophied sense of sexuality and her lust for controlling other people’s lives that had brought about Emma’s ultimate demise. This explains why, just about everything Emma had done, within the context of pursuing a relationship with Rodolphe and Leon, was metaphysically wrong, and therefore, could not possibly benefit her. Moreover, this also explains why, despite the fact that throughout her life, Emma had to deal with significantly lesser social restraints (she was White in a racially homogeneous White society), she had failed at achieving existential liberation.
Therefore, even though that the characters of Emma and Janie were being affected by virtually the same challenges of living in a sexist society, they have consciously chosen to address them in a strikingly dissimilar manner – whereas, Emma had set herself on the path of self-destruction while experiencing a masochist pleasure in being victimized, Janie refused to fall victim to circumstances, while actively seeking to attain happiness. It is namely the fact that Janie had realized that she could not possibly win by adjusting her life to sexist and racist rules of social conduct, associated with realities of living in America’s South, which allowed her to attain inner peace and get a firm hold of her own destiny: “She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether. She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up. It was wonderful to see it take form with the sun and emerge from the gray dust of its making. The familiar people and things had failed her so she hung over the gate and looked up the road towards way off. She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (Hurston 215).
Just like Joan of Arc, Janie had proven herself as being more of a man than most of those men that came across her path, simply because she never dropped her stoic attitude towards life. On the other hand, despite the fact that Emma’s existential inadequacy appears as being of a clear physiological nature (too much testosterone), she nevertheless had failed at inspiring respect in men’s hearts, even though that she was more than capable of doing it. In its turn, this can be explained by the fact that Emma is being shown to us as the representative of the degrading White race, while Janie embodies the best qualities of the liberated Black race – vitality, stoicism, and apparent insensitivity to hardships. It is not by pure coincidence that Emma ends her life by taking arsenic poison. In a time when Flaubert was writing “Madame Bovary”, it was especially fashionable among decadent European “sophisticates” to swallow small amounts of poison, so that their skin would look particularly pale. Apparently, Emma belonged to a so-called “third-generation” of Whites, who have been deprived of their former vitality and mental cheerfulness, while retaining strong intellectual powers. However, by utilizing these powers, they would cause themselves more harm than good. This is the reason that neither of Flaubert’s characters (with the probable exception of Charles) seems to be capable of enjoying life’s simple pleasures – they all are being presented to readers as miserable people, wholly preoccupied with building careers and accumulating money.
While making fun of countryside farmers as “uneducated brutes”, Emma could not possibly consider the possibility of these farmers being much happier than herself, simply because they spend most of their days out in the fresh air. On the other hand, Janie never skips the chance of enjoying nature, with suicidal thoughts being unknown to her mind. Even by the time Janie watches the fast-approaching hurricane, she experiences a strong aesthetic pleasure from being exposed to the sheer power of nature, while eventually gaining insight into the very essence of the divine: “The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God” (Hurston 201).
There are many metaphorically prophetic undertones about this scene – despite seemingly impossible circumstances, Janie was still able to discover her true love and the sensation that she did accomplish a lot in her life was filling Janie with the sense of pride, deep from within. This is why Janie could not care less about people’s gossiping after she came back to Eatonville. Apparently, while watching the approaching hurricane, Janie has taken it as the sign of impending revolutionary changes that were about to challenge what used to prevent her from enjoying her life to its fullest – America’s racist and sexist retrogradeness. Just as Sarah Conor, at the end of the “Terminator” movie, Janie observes the moving weather with apparent calm, while being aware of her actual own worth, as an individual, and the worth of a time she had spent with Tea Cake.
In order to summarize the points made earlier in this paper, we need to state the following: 1) Even though both: Janie and Emma suffer from seemingly the same set of unfortunate circumstances, Janie manages to accomplish something that Emma never could – to find happiness in a relationship with a man, while never losing her existential independence 2). The particularities of Emma and Janie’s life stories correspond to the fact that, whereas Emma is being presented as the representative of the decadent White race, Janie is being portrayed as the representative of revolutionizing Black race 3). Whereas the reading of Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” might result in readers succumbing to depression (especially if they are White), the reading of Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” will provide readers with the insight on what accounts for true happiness, within a context of man and woman becoming romantically involved.
The two readings I have chosen for this essay are “Advice to My Son” by Peter Meinke and “The Ruined Maid” by Thomas Hardy. How our life pans out depends on the choices we make as youth. Both these poems best exemplify this expect of our journey from innocence to experience. “Advice to My Son” talks about the importance of making careful choices because the choices we make today come back to haunt us later in life. “The Ruined Maid” is about a young girl who made a choice that had both positive as well as negative impacts on her life. Both these poems also underscore the effect society has on our happiness.
Meinke’s advice to “marry a pretty girl/ after seeing her mother” is his way of telling us that the temperament of the people we surround ourselves with has a profound impact on our happiness. On the other hand, the repetitive use of the word “ruin” by Hardy shows that even though ‘Melia may be better off than she was in her former life, she cannot be truly happy because society does not accept prostitutes. As we know from experience, we are often forced to make choices by the circumstances, which rob us of our innocence. But losing our innocence should not be synonymous with losing our happiness. In this essay, we shall discuss how social opinions shape our perception of happiness as we grow more experienced.
Meinke’s “Advice to My Son” gives tips on living a happy life. Meinke tells his son that the trick is to live in today while planning for tomorrow. He goes on to give several practical pieces of advice and emphasizes the importance of enjoying life to the fullest.
Thomas Hardy’s “The ruined maid” is the interaction between a country girl and a city girl who happen to meet in the city after a long time. The country girl is impressed by her old friend’s newfound prosperity as she compares it to her old life when she was dressed in tatters and had to work hard. She wishes that she too could have similar prosperity, obviously unaware that her friend’s wealth is the result of prostitution.
Although there does not seem to be any similarity between the two poems, they both show the contrast between experience and innocence. “Advice to My Son” is the advice of an experienced father to a son who is probably still in his teens and unaware of the ways of the world. So the poem is full of practical advice such as living in the present while planning for tomorrow. Meinke talks about the need to create a proper balance between beauty and substance when he says that “between the peony and the rose/ plant squash and spinach, turnip and tomatoes.” He hints at the consequences of our choices when he says that we shall “arrive at our approximation here below/ of heaven or hell.” “The Ruined Maid” is about the consequences of a decision that the girl named ’Melia took.
A country girl coming from the poorest of backgrounds, in her former life ‘Melia was “in tatters, without shoes or sock/ Tired of digging potatoes, and spudding up docks”. She was obviously unhappy with this life as she “used to call home-life a hag-ridden dream”. So she made a choice to escape from this life of drudgery and ran away to the city in hope of better prospects. In the city, ‘Melia ended up being a prostitute, as a direct consequence of her decision. While she managed to escape poverty, we realize her prosperity has not made her happy, since she dissuades her friend from joining her profession. Here, having learned from experience she advises her “raw country girl” friend on the ways of life and the consequences of our decisions. Thus, both the poems have an experienced person advising a “raw” or an innocent person on the facts of life based on their own experiences.
Despite this similarity, there are also some major differences between the two poems. In “Advice to my Son”, the father’s advice is more generic and pertains to the general truths of life such as enjoying each day while planning for the future and balancing beauty with substance. Meinke is not counseling on any particular situation but giving general advice to his son who is about to step out into the big bad world. In the “Ruined Maid”, this advice is limited to a particular situation as ‘Melia tells her friend, innocent friend, to not run after the riches as it would lead to her getting “ruined”. While Meinke gives his advice directly, ‘Melia’s advice is indirect and in the irony of her “ruined” situation.
Both these poems are about human beings’ quest for happiness. Meinke’s poem is about his advice to his son on how to achieve happiness, while the “ruined maid” is the story of a young girl who came to the city in search of happiness, and ironically, though she became prosperous, happiness still eluded her. Her unhappiness is mainly because of the way society looked at her profession. Although prostitution is looked down upon, it was not always considered the profession of fallen women. The earliest prostitutes were probably even worshipped and considered divine as evidenced by the worship of Astarte, Ishtar, and Aphrodite. In Mesopotamia, the priestesses of Babylon were prostitutes, a custom which has continued to this day in the part of India and Morocco (Clarkson 297). Besides, sex work is also working, “even an ‘industry’” and prostitutes often employ savvy marketing tactics (Miller 145).
It is a low-skill, high-income job and most prostitutes view “their work as ‘easier’ and less oppressive than other survival strategies they might have chosen” (Edlund & Korn 188). And as Bliss’s (165) research into the lives of Mexican sex workers tells us, even though prostitutes are often portrayed as a threat to the family, ironically they engage in these activities so that they can support their, often numerous, family members. In view of all this, we have to agree that even though their work may not be socially acceptable, just like everyone else, a prostitute too hopes to gain happiness from her work, and just like everyone else she too has the right to this happiness and a right to have pride in her labor for she subjects herself to the risk of abuse, violence, and disease so that she can protect herself and her family (Bliss 167).
Irrespective of whether we accept prostitution or not, we have to accept that prostitutes too are humans. Because of the nature of their job, prostitutes exemplify Meinke’s advice of living in the present. Even though the search for happiness is central to human existence, since Socrates, mankind has not been able to identify the kind of life which would make us happiest (Haybron 207). Aristotle believed that “happiness is the sole end of all human actions” (Haybron 209) and yet the collective human experience has not been able to identify the path to happiness. Haybron continues to explain that happiness is a kind of well being wherein a person can live a “successful, fortunate or enviable life” (209). Going by this criterion, obviously, a prostitute can never be happy. But if happiness is the sole purpose of human existence, than it is the duty of the society to not deny happiness to a person who is working hard to achieve it. Unfortunately, by condemning prostitution, we deny this right to the prostitutes.
Since happiness is an extremely elusive commodity, any advice on how to achieve it should be treasured and every person should be allowed to pursue happiness in whatever way their experience tells them they can. If we are fortunate, we could achieve happiness simply by marrying the right person. But for the unfortunate, achieving even this basic human right can prove to be an uphill task. And so, in the twenty first century, it is high time that the society gave up its Victorian morals and gave everyone the opportunity to pursue happiness in whatever way they deem fit. For after all, there is certain innocence about a happy person which needs to be preserved in an increasingly corrupt world. And the happiest are those who can use their experience to preserve their innocence.
Works Cited
Bliss, Katherine Elaine. “A Right to Live as Gente Decente: Sex Work, Family Life, and Collective Identity in Early-Twentieth-Century Mexico.” Journal of Women’s History 15.4 (2004): 164-169. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Dwight Marvin Library, Troy, NY. Web.
Clarkson, F. Arnold. “History of Prostitution.” The Canadian Medical Association Journal 41.3 (1939): 296-301. Web.
Edlund, Lena and Evelyn Korn. “A Theory of Prostitution.” Chicago Journal 110.1 (2002): 181-214. JSTOR. Dwight Marvin Library, Troy, NY. Web.
Haybron, Daniel M. “Two Philosophical Problems in the Study of Happiness.” Journal of Happiness Studies 1.2 (2000): 207-225. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Dwight Marvin Library, Troy, NY. Web.
Miller, Heather Lee. “Trick Identities: The Nexus of Work and Sex.” Journal of Women’s History 15.4 (2004): 145-152. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Dwight Marvin Library, Troy, NY. Web.
One of the most notable entries into the journal that Chris “McCandless kept is “Happiness is only real when shared.” (Krauker, 1996). “McCandless is the protagonist in the novel into the wild by John Krauker. McCandless hailed from a well-to-do background and lived in Atlanta with his big family. He had the privilege to live a life of comfort with all the trappings of wealth. However, the revelations that his father had abandoned a woman in order to marry his mother really disturbed him that he became indifferent to the family and the culture of America. He decided to forsake material things and search for happiness in solitude.
The protagonist was a good Reader and a student of Leo Tolstoy whom he emulated by leaving his wealthy family to go and wander into the wild in search of happiness. In his effort to cut links with the family that had been left behind McCandless even changed his name to Alexander Super Trump. When he goes away, he does not even inform his parents neither does he keep in contact later afterward. He starts living a risky life in search of the elusive happiness in the wilderness of Alaska. He degenerated into foolish levels of simplicity and avoided the pleasures of life presented by civilization. He survived with only the basic needs in his attempt to find happiness in simplicity. He claimed that he did not need money and wealth to survive because money was evil by nature and it promoted greed. He donated all the money he had to a famine fund and burnt the rest before he moved into the wild. He found happiness in nature while in the wild especially while enjoying the berries that were his main food. In nature, his sorrows were drowned because he viewed the wilderness as a place that would provide solace in the face of the cruel realities presented by life. According to him, his voyage into the wilderness was a right of passage and his happiness; he thought would come from the lonely life he led, conquering nature, as he tested his survival tactics and his strength as a man. However, his intent was not to conquer nature. He was just using nature as a toy to conquer his aversion to his parents after the revelation was made. His attempt to live a life of simplicity, shutting himself from the rest of the world did not come from the heart like in the case of Tolstoy; it was a means of escaping the harsh realities of life that faced him. This means that it was very foolish of McCandless to leave the family behind just because he felt an aversion to what transpired between the parents had. He is trying to run away from a problem by claiming that he is searching for happiness, but the reality is that the problem does not get solved by his departure. In his journal, it is documented that despite finding happiness in living in solitude, there were feelings of loneliness at times and the happiness seemed to be incomplete in the face of loneliness. (Krauker, 1996). McCandless had to struggle with lonely existence for many months and it is after this struggle that he realized that the happiness that he was looking for in solitude was still far out of reach.
It is after this realization that it became apparent to him that interactions and relations with human beings were an integral part of life. He seemed to lack something to complete his newfound happiness. That something was someone with whom to share with the happiness. In one of his journal entries, he claims that joy comes from the love to and by neighbors and that real happiness cannot exist unless it is shared among human beings. It is after these realizations that he decides to go back to the civilized life that he had come from initially and ends his dismal life of solitude and isolation. He needed men and women in his life with whom to share his happiness and grief, good times and bad times because no man is an island as men cannot avoid living in groups. When trapped by the river flows, he entered something in his journal that his loneliness had become scary. This implies that he had started valuing the presence of other people in his life and the aversions that he had towards his parents started to wither after realizing that he had to share his happiness with them. In his stay in the wilderness, he would often starve and by the time he realized that he needed people around him, his health had failed drastically and death was beckoning. When he slipped into the bag in which he ultimately fell unconscious, it was an implication that he wanted to be reconnected with his mother who had sewn that bag. Though he never returned home to show his realization, a point had been made to him as he took his final breath, that human relationships were inevitable. Through interactions with people may be a source of grief and sadness, isolation may bring happiness but short-term happiness because, in the long run, that happiness has to be shared for it to be complete. Happiness cannot be shared with animals and nature; it can only be shared with human beings(Hesse, 2000). When McCandless discovers the problem within his family, it creates sadness and sorrow in his life and he needed happiness. However, the manner in which he sought to create happiness for himself was not appropriate because, though he gained it, it did not help him. This is because there was no one to share it with. The happiness lasted for a short time and it transformed itself into fear and desperation. By the time that he realized that he needed people to share his happiness with, it was too late and he did not reach home to share out that happiness. It is defeatist for one to pursue happiness by living a lifestyle that will bring along psychological and even physical harm to oneself because this happiness will be short-lived and what will follow is grief. The life of the main character, therefore, implies that there are very many disadvantages that can be got from extreme forms of solitude because human beings were not created to be solitary animals (Hesse, 2000). People need a balance in their life and this balance is naturally created by sharing with other people. Neglecting the balance by isolating oneself is like signing one’s owns death certificate. McCandless’s actions are extreme and foolish and his story would evoke irritation instead of sympathy. This is because he brought himself into the situation that led to his death. Even he himself as he died had come to the realization that he needed people in his life and was on his way to re-establish relations with his people, though they did not manage.
The tragic end to the life of McCandless is a big lesson to those people who live in isolation, seeking happiness and satisfaction in their own solitude. They will get happiness initially but this happiness will still be incomplete because there is nothing like happiness in isolation. This kind of happiness degenerates’ into desperation when one realizes that they need people with whom to share this happiness. The worst way of escaping from a problem is by slipping into solitude as this character did. If happiness becomes real when it is shared, then problems, when shared, become easier and that is why human beings need each other; to share the joy in times of happiness and to share the burden in times of problems. Had McCandless decided to share the problem he was facing with a friend instead of escaping into solitude, he would not have met his tragic demise in such a sorry manner. He may have realized that happiness becomes real only when it is shared, but it was too late for him because he never lived to share the happiness with another human being.
References
Hesse, H. (2000). Siddhartha. Bantam Classics. New York.
Krakauer, J. (1996). Into The Wild. Anchor Books. New York.