Pursuit to Happiness Personal Essay

Happiness is the overall goal amongst society, yet there so many different ideals of happiness. Happiness cannot be defined. From Canada all the way to the opposite side of the world, happiness is achieved in so many diverse ways. One may feel money and materialistic items satisfies them , for others having enough food to feed their family is more than enough.   For others maybe it is as simple as being in a room full of puppies. Whatever defines happiness for an individual, we are all hard at work fighting through the ups and downs of life to achieve an overall happiness with oneself. It is what one lives for. However, achieving happiness is almost never easy. There will always be something that one cannot fulfill without making compromises for both themselves and others. Even with evil intentions one may feel it is necessary to sacrifice others happiness. In the short story The Possibility of Evil written by Shirley Jackson, it explores the journey of Adela and her pursuit to happiness, in a way that is unexpected for her character. Adela is character represents the almost self conceded way society is becoming today, as many people today have one purpose and one purpose only. This purpose is to satisfy themselves and often forget about others around them.   Shirley Jackson portrays through Adela that one must compromise others happiness in order to achieve their   own happiness.
One may seem happy on the outside, but in reality it takes more to achieve internal happiness. Adela Strangeworth is portrayed throughout the entire exposition as a sweet dainty old lady, nothing suspicious or uncalled for about her actions. She seems like the typical grandma who has nothing more to live for other than making her loved ones happy. Adela feels a sense of superiority when it comes to her town. She had connections back to way farther than anyone could remember in this town and felt it was her task to keep the town “alert from evil,” as there was “only one Strangeworth in the...