They were interviewing motorists stranded in the snow on the M8 this morning. They all seemed happy. It occurred to me that, perhaps, this happiness came from the anticipation of a free day. It also occurred to me that their happiness might stem from the fact that for several hours, stuck in a jam, they became part of a tangible community of other stranded souls. The word "tangible" is important here. We can see and talk to our fellow snow-stranded sufferers. This cannot always be said of Chelsea FC fans. They may be described as a community of souls but we cannot possibly know them in the same way that we can get to know the motorists beside us on the blocked motorway. Communities like football fans are really an idea rather than a concrete reality.
Theories about what makes people happy are hardly news. But, the pursuit of happiness is a wonderful source of ideas for writers. For example, Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Madame Bovary by Flaubert and Disgrace by Coetze all deal with the search for some kind of happiness. Are marrieds happier than singles or does it all depend on biochemistry, that is: does happiness depend on the amounts of serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin we have. If the latter is true, then people born with a cheerful biochemical system are likely to be happy whether rich or poor, married or single.
For writers, especially writers of historical fiction, this biochemistry presents a variety of opportunities. For example, did WW1 make people happier? This is an important question because if it did not result in increased happiness, then what was he point of the 11 million military deaths and the 6 million civilian deaths? I am sure that on November 11th 1918, some people did indeed "suddenly burst out singing" as Siegried Sassoon wrote but others did not. The news of the armistice in 1918 sent Robert Graves walking over the Welsh hills sobbing and thinking of the dead.
The same question could be asked about other momentous events in history. Did the French Revolution make people happier? Are the people of Britain's ex-colonies happier now they are independent? Perhaps it was the struggle for independence that made people happy. Perhaps the result was, ultimately, a let-down.
A writer can take most of the topics above and use them to illustrate and interpret the theme of the pursuit of happiness. This blogger's own mother (now 93) was a nurse during WW2 and she often described the war years as the best years of her life. I would challenge her on this and remind her that there was also much suffering. "I know, dear," she would say. "I was a nurse and saw it. But I have never been so alive as I was then."
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