Finding Balance: Social Expectations vs. Personal Happiness - Essay Sample

Introduction

The world shapes our experiences, beliefs, assumptions, and hopes. However, when it comes it gender, the challenge arises on ways to reconcile the opposing viewpoints and striving for individual happiness. Sigmund Freud, in his essay civilization and its discontents, talked about happiness, pleasure, and principle as the primary purpose of living. According to Freud, social expectations are a constraint to happiness since the drive for personal satisfaction is contrary to the expectations of society. Freud suggests that these expectations create discontent in humans. In his novel Joseph Andrews, Henry Fielding talked about gender relations and human happiness in the world. Fielding discussed the impediments of happiness as they relate to gender relations through issues of social power, class status, and personal wealth. The purpose of this paper is to discuss problems encountered by the main characters Joseph Andrews, Parson Adams, and Lady Booby, in the novel. Then, the paper develops an argument as to why gender is central to the problem of reconciling individual happiness with the expectations in society.

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Joseph Andrews

Joseph Andrews is from a humble background and has high-moral standards, considering he is of the male gender. Often in the novel, Joseph is the victim of people's maliciousness and lack of assistance. For example, Lady Booby threw Joseph out of his house when he rejected him. Joseph resisted the sexual advances of his employer, who is from a high-class status and vows to keep his virginity until his wedding (Fielding 40). Fielding depicts Joseph as chaste and a man who would not give up his virtue to a predator from the upper class (Fielding 40). In his letter to Pamela, Joseph informs her that he managed to resist temptation from Lady Booby because he believes chastity is a great virtue in a man as it is to a woman (Fielding 40). Seemingly, male chastity is Andrew's happiness.

The only people who treat Joseph Andrews with compassion are those from the low-class society. Fielding depicts people from the high-class society as those who lack empathy and charity. At one point, Joseph stated that all men should commend goodness as no man deserves to get condemnation from the community (Fielding 80). Undoubtedly. Joseph's happiness comes from his honor, virtue, and self-respect that he has for himself. Freud (9) implied that men tend to be happier. The author added that societal expectations could brew either pleasure or un-pleasure. According to the author, according to civilization, value is a means of happiness (Freud 17). In light of that expectation, it is noteworthy that Joseph Adams, even though desolate, is happy with what he has regardless of society's expectations.

Parson Adams

Parson Adams is a clergyman and parishioner who has an upright character. In the novel, he indicates, "whoever therefore is void of Charity, I make no scruple of pronouncing that he is no Christian" (Fielding 185). Fielding portrays Adams as satisfied and happy with his Christian virtues. Even though he is poor, his parishioners love him. He has not yet achieved personal wealth because he refuses to go against his principles. Adams is amazed that people are unable to help even in instances when they can. However, when he receives help, he is astonished that it comes from people who do not have much themselves.

Adams had a good relationship with Andrew Joseph. When Adams informed Joseph of his trip to London, he told him that he would get a considerable amount from there and that when it happens, he would ensure that Joseph gets help (Fielding 62). When Joseph tells Adams that he now has a reason to desire life, Adams tells him that he should cheer up (Fieldings 62). Without a doubt, Adams is happy about life because he knows that he is true to his beliefs and that he is virtuous. Freud (9) talked about the pleasure principle. He asserted that happiness comes from the satisfaction of needs (Freud 9). According to him, human beings restrict happiness from their constitution (Freud 9). As he added, human beings can experience suffering from their body, from the external world, and from their relations to other people. From Fielding's novel, it is apparent that Parson Adams has a pleasure principle that keeps him contented with what he has. Besides that, he finds pleasure in helping those around him as he did with Joseph. According to Freud (10), under the experiences of suffering, men tend to moderate their claims to happiness. The author added that men avoid pain, and due to that, it enables them to obtain pleasure in the background. The author mentioned that religion imposes a choice on everyone regarding happiness (Freud 15). According to the author, religion protects people from suffering (Freud 15). Seemingly, Adam's quest for happiness and pleasure in Christianity makes him overcome his sufferings as a poor person. Freud implies that when it comes to individual happiness, gender plays a significant role because of societal expectations.

Lady Booby

Lady Booby is an example of the way gender is a problem to reconciling individual happiness with the expectations of society. Lady Booby is the villain of the novel because when Joseph is twenty-one, he attempts to seduce him, but when he rejects her, Booby throws him out of his house (Fielding 22). When she hears that Joseph is getting married to Fanny, Booby attempts to prevent the marriage. Booby is concerned about her social superiority and is unable to choose between her desire for Joseph and the humiliation from him. In his essay, Sigmund Freud asserted that in individual development, striving for happiness is egoistic (Freud 49). Booby's gender makes her selfish as she cannot accept no for an answer. In fielding's essay, it appears that Lady Booby is unable to reconcile her happiness because of the expectations of society.

Even though Joseph rejects her, as a woman and a person from high-class society and wealthy, she sacrifices her happiness by attempting to separate Joseph and Fanny. At one point during their conversation, Lady Booby tells Joseph that if he rejects her, then it would ruin her reputation. Lady Booby is worried about what society might think if she does not be in a relationship with Joseph. When she chases Joseph out of his house, the idea that a woman from a high-class society being unmarried justifies the notion that gender is a problem of reconciling individual happiness. Arguably, Booby is distressed because her gender constraints her ability to be happy to the extent she expresses her negative emotions towards Booby and Fanny. Freud (26) asserted that in civilization, women tend to express their feelings of love and sexual desire. According to the author, when women fail to lay their claims of love, they begin to develop a hostile attitude (Freud 26). Evidently, the psychological approach of men and women is different. Freud's sentiments about discontent in women depict Lady Booby's behavior. After many failed attempts of seducing Joseph, she becomes furious and chases Joseph out of his house.

Conclusion

Overall, the inequality of happiness shows that when gender faces social expectations and constraints, it is harder for them to achieve a happy state. In the novel Joseph Andrews, the characters outlined by Fielding show that gender is the problem of reconciling personal happiness with the expectations of society. Fielding's depiction of Joseph Andres as a poor yet contented man is revealing of men's attitudes towards individual happiness. Besides, from the reading, it is evident that Parson Adams is contented with his Christian beliefs even though he does not have much money to his name. The texts by Sigmund Freud and Henry Fielding give insights to the nature of life. For example, one can learn that men and women have different psychoanalytical processes, which make them act and react differently in situations presented at their disposal. To sum up everything discussed, pleasurable principles are the foundations for happiness in any individual.

Works Cited

Fielding, Henry. "The Adventures of Joseph Andrews." Volume 1. George Bell and Sons, 1808. Print.

Freud, Sigmund. "Civilizations and its discontents." General Press, 2018. Print