Mansfields Bliss :: essays research papers

Katherine Mansfield thoughtfully named her story Bliss, to ask the question, â€Å"What is bliss?† Webster’s dictionary defines bliss as, â€Å"complete happiness†. In Bliss, the main character, Bertha, feels she is blissful. She has the perfect family, the perfect life, and a party that night. However, that perfect life is a faà §ade, which the reader along with Bertha at times learns. After arranging the fruit for the evening party, Bertha like a child at Christmas runs upstairs to the nursery to see her baby, Little B. The scene goes, â€Å"she looked up when see saw her mother and began to jump.† (Mansfield 2) The Nanny quickly takes control of the baby and in facial expressions showing her displeasure of being interrupted. When the Nanny tells of the dog’s ear that B touched, she does not voice her objections to the Nanny’s judgment of letting B touch the dog’s ear. Bertha also has to beg Nanny, like a child rather, than an employer, to finish feeding her child. Showing that Bertha’s bliss with her baby is not true, â€Å"because the nanny has constant control over her care.† (Sonja Cerne, para. 1). Bertha’s bliss with her husband also is fake. He is having an affair with her â€Å"a find of Bertha’s called Pearl Fulton.† (Mansfield 3). According to Megan Nussbaum, â€Å"Subconsciously Bertha knows that her husband must be messing around with someone. He's always coming in late and doesn't mind her ‘coldness’ in bed.† However she has no idea that it is her fascinating friend, after all Harry, Bertha’s husband, constantly criticizes Miss Fulton, â€Å"[he] voted her dullish, and `cold like all blond women, with a touch, perhaps, of anemia of the brain.† (Mansfield 3). Later in the story, Harry and Miss Fulton almost arrive one after another, â€Å"like they rode to the house together and then came in separately.† (Kate Campbell, para. 1). At the end,† Harry almost pushing his wife [Bertha] over when Miss Fulton is ready to leave†¦and then he pulled Miss Fulton towards him and his lips said, ‘I adore yo u. Mansfields Bliss :: essays research papers Katherine Mansfield thoughtfully named her story Bliss, to ask the question, â€Å"What is bliss?† Webster’s dictionary defines bliss as, â€Å"complete happiness†. In Bliss, the main character, Bertha, feels she is blissful. She has the perfect family, the perfect life, and a party that night. However, that perfect life is a faà §ade, which the reader along with Bertha at times learns. After arranging the fruit for the evening party, Bertha like a child at Christmas runs upstairs to the nursery to see her baby, Little B. The scene goes, â€Å"she looked up when see saw her mother and began to jump.† (Mansfield 2) The Nanny quickly takes control of the baby and in facial expressions showing her displeasure of being interrupted. When the Nanny tells of the dog’s ear that B touched, she does not voice her objections to the Nanny’s judgment of letting B touch the dog’s ear. Bertha also has to beg Nanny, like a child rather, than an employer, to finish feeding her child. Showing that Bertha’s bliss with her baby is not true, â€Å"because the nanny has constant control over her care.† (Sonja Cerne, para. 1). Bertha’s bliss with her husband also is fake. He is having an affair with her â€Å"a find of Bertha’s called Pearl Fulton.† (Mansfield 3). According to Megan Nussbaum, â€Å"Subconsciously Bertha knows that her husband must be messing around with someone. He's always coming in late and doesn't mind her ‘coldness’ in bed.† However she has no idea that it is her fascinating friend, after all Harry, Bertha’s husband, constantly criticizes Miss Fulton, â€Å"[he] voted her dullish, and `cold like all blond women, with a touch, perhaps, of anemia of the brain.† (Mansfield 3). Later in the story, Harry and Miss Fulton almost arrive one after another, â€Å"like they rode to the house together and then came in separately.† (Kate Campbell, para. 1). At the end,† Harry almost pushing his wife [Bertha] over when Miss Fulton is ready to leave†¦and then he pulled Miss Fulton towards him and his lips said, ‘I adore yo u.