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Eriesha Hall

Professor Ditch

English 113A

23 March 2018

Identifying Happiness

Sometime it’s hard to determine whether a person is truly happy or faking their happiness. In

order to identify their happiness you have to pay close attention to their body language, actions

and tone of speaking. Some people would hide that they are not happy from others so they smile

and continue doing their regular routine. I have read several readings out of the book “Pursuing

Happiness” that describes the difference between real happiness and fake happiness.“The

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society” novel by Mary Ann Shafter and Annie Barrows,

takes place during the second war. One of the founders of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel

Society is Dawsey Adams. This was not just any book club it was very special and protection to

the members of it. Dawsey was the person who reached out to Juliet due to the fact that every

member admired her and her writing. When Dawsey reaches out to Juliet she saw it as an

opportunity to be able to be motivated with an idea to write about. I noticed that the characters in

this novel reminds me of the people being described in“Pursuing Happiness”. Based on the

novel, I would define my characters Dawsey Adams and Juliet Ashton as unhappy because

Dawsey has to do things that makes other happy instead of making himself happy and Juliet’s

happiness depended on her love life which seem to fail a lot.

Dawsey Adams lived on his farm in Saint Martin’s Parish in Guernsey, Germany. He is a

supplier for the soldiers fighting in the war. He grew all the food on his farm and deliver it to the

soldiers. Dawnsey also had a job at St. Peter Port harbor unloading. Dawnsey was the type of
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person that wondered about a lot of things like different types of books l, how it was created,

about the book creator, about Juliet and her life experience, and etc. Even though they were not

allowed to do a lot of things he was interested in reading to learn about new things. The whole

purpose of Dawsey reading was to be more informed about things that seemed to wonder his

mind a lot , like life. Dawnsey was one of the founders on The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel

Society along with the group of friends he has. Dawnsey liked to help others be happy, better

themselves, and get them to a better living environment. Reading about him he wasn’t illustrated

as the type to care about himself he basically was there to help out others. Therefore, I defined

him as unhappy. Juliet Ashton lived in Chelsea, London S.W.3. She was both a journalist, a book

writer, and once a librarian. In fact, she was popularly known for her journalism work. Juliet was

the type of person that had to be in a certain mood to write; she needed inspiration that connected

to the main idea of her book to help her get started. Even though in the readings she was

illustrated as a friendly and happy person, she was not happy about her love life. She had met

many man but they did not meet her expectations. She most definitely wanted a man that loves

her for her. Juliet was also a curious character in this novel. She was the type of person that

wanted to take people in and help them better their lives. Juliet was proud about some things but

something that burdens her the most was finding true love. Therefore, I figured that she is an

unhappy person deep inside.

I identified Dawsey Adams as being an unhappy person because he rather spend his time on

pleasing others than making sure he’s happy. In the novel he never really talked about himself he

was always worried about his community members. Dawsey was very happy to help others to

things but he felt like he also should be dedicating more time into himself. For instance, in the

letter he wrote to Juliet February 7th 1946 in the novel , The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie
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Society, I am glad of the work but will be happy to be working on my land soon” ( 36-37). This

illustrates that even though he was happy with his job he would be happier if he was building and

improving his own land. Dawsey never experienced happiness to the point where he would know

how to make others happy without doing favors for them. “She must be around people —

cheerful people… but how am I to serve up a good cheer? Joking and such is not natural to me. I

didn’t know what to say to her sister, so I just nodded and tried to look jolly”(218-219). This

highlights how Dawsey never truly been a happy person; he did not even know how it felt. He

was having difficulties thinking of ways to cheer Remy up verbally not materially. I could

connect Dawnsey to a couple of readings from the book “Pursuing Happiness”. I Feel that the

two readings that connects to him the most is “Tao Te Ching” by Laozi and “What Suffering

Does” by David Brooks. I picked these to readings as a connection to Dawnsey because it is

related to his situation. The reading “Tao Te Ching “by Laozi is about how happiness in not

within materialistic things it is within yourself. For example, “if you look for others fulfillment

you will never be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money you will never be happy with

yourself” (Laozi 14). This highlights how you cannot try to live off other people requirements to

be happy and being wealthy would not bring you happiness. This connects to him because he

talks about how is not like the other English men that women like to go after, he is not wealthy

and do not consider himself as handsome like them. He is insecure about things which causes

him to be unhappy. The reading “What Suffering Does” by David Brooks is about how suffering

will affect you in so many ways and you do not even know it. It informs you about signs of

suffering and how it is unhealthy for you to suffer. “But the big thing that suffering does is it

takes you outside of precisely that logic that the happiness mentality encourages happiness wants

you to think about maximizing your benefits. Difficulty and suffering sends you on a different
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course” (David Brooks 284). This highlights that suffering will make you miserable and boxed

in. On the other hand, happiness would have you more opened up and at peace with yourself.

This connects with Dawsey Adams because he is boxed in based on him never being able to

experience happiness. When all he have to do is do all those things on his mind instead of

skipping out on them based on the thought of being stopped. An outside source that connects to

Dawsey Adams is “10 Ways You Are Causing Your Own Unhappiness” , in this article they

stated “Many of life’s difficulties are out of your control the weather, the genes you were born

with, diseases you cannot cure, or the fact that you are getting older”. This quote connects with

Dawsey low self-esteem about not look like the other German men, his self-confidence was

pretty low when it came down to his looks and lifestyle. Another outside source that connects to

him is “12 Common Causes and Proven Cures For Unhappiness”. Marc Chernoff states “When

you catch yourself comparing yourself to a colleague, neighbor, friend, or someone famous,

stop! Realize that you are different with different strengths— strengths these other people don’t

process”. This connect to him because he’s only focusing on what he does not have like them but

not the point that he also have unique features about himself. Down talking and comparing you

would cause a lot of misery upon yourself.

I identified Juliet Ashton as unhappy because her happiness depended mostly on her love life.

Some of her happiness came from writing. Even though she seem to have moments in this

reading where she was happy, she talked about being unhappy the most. Juliet seemed to be

going through some things but did not tell her friends about the situation. She would throw hints

to them about her depression. “You know how I love talking about books… But the truth is that

I’m gloomy — gloomier than I ever was during the war. Everything is so broken” (7). Juliet is

illustrating that she might keep a smile on her face but she is not happy. Another cause to Juliet’s
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depression was her love life. Juliet felt that her being married and in love she would find her

happiness. “I swear, Sophie, I think there’s something wrong with me. Every man I meet is

intolerable” (Juliet 8). Juliet’s love life failed so much she started to look at herself differently.

Juliet feels that by her not being able to put up with a man was a major problem. Her love life

affected her so much to the point she started to become miserable. In fact, she stated in a letter to

Sidney “AM ENTIRELY MISERABLE. SAW DAWNSEY IN ST. PETER PORT THIS

AFTERNOON, BUYING SUITCASE WITH REMY ON HIS ARM, BOTH WREATHED IN

SMILES. IS IT FOR THEIR HONEYMOON? WHAT A FOOL I AM” (277). When the man

she was looking for was in her presence she never noticed him. Dawnsey was the man she truly

wanted so seeing him with another woman doing things they should be doing completely bring

her misery. I can connect Juliet to two readings from “Pursing Happiness”, “The Source of

Happiness” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler and “The Alchemy of Suffering”

by Mathieu Richard. In “The Source of Happiness” it explains how happiness is determined by

the mindset than by events. The main event that Juliet is letting determine her unhappiness is

Love, true love. Juliet knew what she wanted and desired but when she was unable to find it she

started to become unhappy. “How can we achieve inner contentment? There are two methods.

One method is to obtain everything that we want and desire… the second, more reliable, method

is not to have what we want but rather to want and appreciate what we have (27)”. If Juliet was

to live her life more thankful for the positive good things in her life than in regret about her love

life she would be able to achieve her inner contentment. “Alchemy of Suffering “illustrates “how

everyone suffers but at a certain point in life you can get liberation from it. Suffering can really

make people feel like they’re in a cage in a deep hole”. For instance, Juliet is caged up about her

love life and journalism. The name of Juliet’s suffering is called hidden suffering. In the
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“Alchemy Of Suffering” Ricard explained invisible suffering as the hardest to discover because

the blame is within their own lives and makes it hard to distinguish, but once it is discovered it

becomes more known. This connects to Juliet because her friends was unable to recognize that

she was unhappy and suffering because she always seems to be jolly around them or asking them

about their life. It was like she kept her emotions in her pocket and acted like everything was

perfect. She never changed her attitude, the vibe she gave off and the way she act towards others.

Her friends didn’t realize how she was suffering from love. Two outside sources that I can

connect to Juliet is “10 Ways You Are Causing Your Own Unhappiness” and “12 Common

Causes and Proven Cures for Unhappiness”. In the article “10 Ways You Are Causing Your Own

Unhappiness” they state, “Misery Maker 1: inventing and dwelling upon painful inner dramas

that have linked or no basis in fact”. For instance, Juliet felt that she was useless and her life was

coming to an end because she cannot seem to find love. She started to think she had a real

problem. In the article, “12 Common Causes and Proven Cures for Unhappiness” states “The

lens you choose to view everything through determines how you feel about yourself and

everything that happens around you”. This connects to Juliet because she choose to let her love

life have an impact on her happiness and life when in reality you have to love yourself and be

your own comfort in order for someone else to love you.

In conclusion, you can determine someone happiness based on their actions, tone, vibe, and

writing. People can be unhappy based on insecurities, trying to please others, and being

oppressed. My Characters Dawsey Adams And Juliet Ashton are identified as unhappy because

Dawnsey can only work on things that make others happy he never had time to do what makes

him truly happy and Juliet happiness depended on her love life which was not going so well.
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Therefore, you should not let the next person control your life. Physically, mentally, and

emotionally. You most definitely should not let your love life determine life and happiness.
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Works Cited

Barrows, Annie, and Shaffer Mary. “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”.

Published by The Dial Press , August 2018.

Brooks, David. “What Suffering Does”. Pursuing Happiness, edited by Mathew Parfit and Dawn

Skoroczewsk, Bedford First Martins, 2016, pp. 284-287.

Cutler, Howard, and Dalai Lama. “The Source Of Happiness”. Pursuing Happiness, edited by Mathew

Parfit and Dawn Skoroczewsk, Bedford First Martins, 2016, pp. 21-32.

Laozi. “From The Tao Te Ching”. Pursuing Happiness, edited by Mathew Parfit and Dawn

Skoroczewsk, Bedford First Martins, 2016, pp. 10-15.

Ricard, Matthieu. “The Alchemy Of Suffering”. Pursuing Happiness, edited by Mathew Parfit and Dawn

Skoroczewsk, Bedford First Martins, 2016, pp. 34-41.

“10 Ways You Are Causing Your Own Unhappiness”. Publish by Psychology Today, 2018, Sussex,

LCC

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/changepower/201701/10-

ways-you-are-causing-your-own-unhappiness%3famp
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“12 Common Causes And Proven Cures For Unhappiness” Published and editing, Marc Churnoff, 2011.

http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/05/29/12-common-causes-and-proven-cures-for-

unhappiness/