b a i) we Happy or Not? Vy 5 Venegas 1 Elizabeth Venegas Hernandez, Wy \) Professor Ditch « English 114A ve 2 April 2019 RAS \ a o K ec ‘Who in your life would you consider a happy or not happy person? In the book > \ t J The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne ¥ \* Barrows, the book discusses two characters, Blizabeth and Dawsey. These two characters ae considerably happy people in the book. They come off as happy because of their cheerful and happy characteristics and the loving influences that they had in their life. Although the two were not so happy in their earlier life they did have a good life over all l a Elizabeth was a main focus in the story although she never was alive during af) time, Elizabeth's childhood was not entirely happy, her mother, who was a maid to a man ( named Sir Ambrose, passed away when Elizabeth was 14 and she stayed with his after this. She willingly stayed on the island with her bestfriend Jane when it was clear that the th! Germans were taking over the war. When the Germans took over Guernsey, Elizabeth fell in love with one of the soldiers who unfortunately lost his life while she was pregnant with his child, Elizabeth was one of many girls who were looked down upon for being with a German soldier, many people did not realize the real love that they had for each other. After Elizabeth's child was born, Elizabeth was sent away to a concentration camp. foriding a prisoner and theater sentenced to be killed after beating an overseer whileWO SeeeeISEeE trying to defend a fellow prisoner. Afterall these negative Positive mindset and was able to bring joy to my PEOPIe- serra een wy CSC al and laughter to many people during the war. Elizabeth choose to stay in Guernsey when she had a chance to escape because she did not want to leave Jane, ‘While the kids were being evacuated Elizabeth was getting Eli ready to leave however Eli was sad. To try and cheer him up she gave him a pin that meant so much to her and told him that that pin would give him courage which he believed. Blizabeth also volunteered at a hospital where she helped cheer up 2 patient who had to get her head shaved due to scabies. \ Hlizabeth would turn her treatment into a game by naming the names of every women j f b ‘yo had ever suffered under the biade. ‘Mary, Queen of Scots- Snip-snap!” al 7 - snattert44).” Although the patient was in pain, Elizabeth was able to heal some of the away inthe concentration camp. Remy remembers the food times she had with Blizabeth is in by bringing in some laughter an joy nto the process ‘and made the process more A tolerable and less humiliating, Blizabeth also made Remy happy while they were locked and described them as “In the bunks, the air we breathed was weighted with sickness and faith, but when Elizabeth spoke, I could imagine the good, fresh sea air and the smell of fruit in the hot sun(Shaffer180).” Elizabeth turned any negative situation into a positive cone, which relates to Sonja Lyubomirsky’s article “How Happy ‘Are You and Why?” In the article Lyubomirsky discusses how it does not matter what events happen in your life to feel happy for happiness comes within one's own mindset- Lyubomirsky states in her J ticle that “the reality is thatthe elements that determined our happiness in the past, and can make for future happiness, are with us right now and are right here waiting to beVenegas 3 taken advantage of...no matter how positive and stunning, actually have little bearing on our well-being (Lyubomirsky185-186).” She is saying that you do not need to connect to fl past experiences to feel happy because you will only be happy if you find it inside you and not by waiting for something to show up. Elizabeth is proof of this article because even though she grew up most of her life without her family and she had countless o hardship's, she still managed to have the caring and loveable personality that she had. Although one can argue that Elizabeth was not a happy person due to her past experiences with her mom, her husband and having to leave her child. Even though these experiences would put someone's spirit down this connects to Matticu Ricard’s article “The Alchemy of Suffering.” This article illustrates that people will suffer at one point of their life. There is so much death, crimes and hunger in this world that it is inevitable for 4 ’ aK aeons suffering. Elizabeth's suffering was a natural part of everyday \ life and did not impact her overall personality of being a very nice companion and “ ~ loveable nature. Yr c cS (77 Someone who was as equally happy as Bizabeth was Dawsey Adams. Dawsey ‘was happy in my opinion despite being a shy and quiet character. He was an islander all ® his life, For most of his life he grew up with a stutter and was very quiet and shy, especially after the early deaths of both his parents. He was one of the first members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society when he went to a dinner to eat a secret pig his neighbor had hidden. Although he did not talk to most people, he made ) ‘various friends in the literary society. Although Dawsey was very shy he was very kin the rest of the islanders and hard-working, working on his farm and in various houses that\