Modernist approaches to bliss and aesthetic experience

¶ … Bliss

oModernist literature distinguishes itself from literature that came before it by employing a number of literary devices that make the stories more personal and introspective. Katherine Mansfield's story "Bliss" is a good example of modernist literature because of her use of symbolic language, and the protagonist's impressionistic feelings regarding the events around her instead of providing direct interpretation. leading to an ambiguous ending.

The reader realizes that the protagonist, Bertha, is experiencing some kind of emotional turmoil because of the title, "Bliss." Bliss is an experience of perfect happiness without much thought -- thus the cliche that "ignorance is bliss." As we read the story, we see that Bertha takes in what is going on around her with the happy assumption that her life is perfect and could not possibly be any better. However, her name, Bertha, a play on the word "birth," suggests that she is about to experience a rebirth, or new perception, about her life. In addition, her husband, whom she believes loves her, calls her "Ber." Again this is double entendre, as it sounds like "burr," something that clings to objects around it and causes significant irritation. In another play on her name, Bertha fairly recently given birth to a child. It is appropriate for an infant to experience bliss, because babies aren't capable of evaluating their circumstances. However, Bertha seems to be reacting to the events around her as a baby might, taking simple delight in everything she sees, and not noticing where there is and is not depth to her daily experiences. The bliss she feels is uncomplicated because she is not completely taking in the events unfolding around her.

For instance, the afternoon sun "burned in her bosom" over the simple joy of arriving on the street she lives on. However, even then she notices that society will restrain her from expressing her full sense of joy. She keeps meeting restrictions throughout the afternoon and evening. The nurse doesn't want to let her feed her own child and lectures her sternly about what to do and not do, demonstrating that Bertha has a superficial relationship with her child. She reflects this in her superficial joy while caring for the baby: She says to the baby, "I'm fond of you. I like you." She describes how the nurse has blocked her from really experiencing the child, but does not recognize it as part of a pattern of her life.

It begins to look as if Bertha's happy feelings protect her from seeing the shallowness of her life. She enjoys arranging the fruit so they complement the interior decoration of the house, but her joy in this activity is out of proportion to its importance. Her joy is acting like blinders that keep her from seeing everything she should see around her. She is overcome by joy when she arranges the pillows on the couch a little more randomly. She experiences joy when her husband makes disparaging remarks about her new friend, Miss Fulton. She says, "I'm happy -- too happy!" But does not realize how right she is.

At the end of the story, Bertha's fortress of joy finally cracks when she sees her husband whispering, "I adore you" to Miss Fulton. Ironically, Bertha has noted earlier that "Harry and she were as much in love as ever" and "great pals." Nothing in that truth has changed, but in that one moment seeing her husband and Miss Fulton in the hall, she has realized that being her husband's "pal" is not enough, and that her life is not what it has seemed to be to her.