Sometimes, people have a tendency to mask their distress with elements of happiness and constantly tell themselves that they are happy when in reality they are not. Bertha Young from "Bliss" by Katherine Mansfield believed that she was truly happy in her life because she seemed to have everything she needed. However, she comes to the horrible realization that her happy relationships are aligned against her happiness, even her husband, Harry, who is having an affair with her mysterious friend, Pearl. Bertha's feelings of bliss and perfect contentment in her life conflict with the harsh reality of less than favorable incidents in her relationships with Harry, Pearl, and even with herself - in terms of her symbolic pear tree - and with her perception of these relationships.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay At the beginning of the story, Bertha's feelings of "bliss" conflict with Harry's actions towards her because she feels at a considerable distance from him. When Bertha was called to answer the phone, she "turned down" (492) from her feelings of Bliss, no longer as happy as she was before receiving the call from Harry. Bertha was completely happy until she received the phone call, and now that she has to talk to him, she feels a certain distance towards him. She wanted to tell him what a beautiful day it had been, but she knew he wouldn't understand: “she had nothing to say. She wanted to connect with him just for a moment” (492). This portrays how she was not in touch with Harry in a happy way, and felt a distance from him in this way, keeping her blissful thoughts from him. When he hung up the phone he was "thinking about how civilization was more than idiotic" (492) after talking to Harry because he knew that Harry did not understand what true happiness was, nor did he share his mutual feelings for it, further describing a emotional distance between them. Another opposing factor to her happiness is how Bertha “knew how [Harry] liked to do high-pressure things” (495) but didn't know how intense and dangerous Harry liked things until the end of the stories. His high-pressure lifestyle was completely opposite to that of Bertha, who liked things to be calm, collected and happy. Bertha struggled to connect emotionally with Harry, but continued to try to stay happy, regardless of the fact that her husband was unable to understand it. In the middle of the story, Bertha's connection with Pearl and the way she views Pearl negatively affect Bertha's happiness; Pearl shows signs of a false friendship, signs that Bertha was convinced were genuine. There were numerous opportunities for Bertha to see more depth into Pearl's personality, and some were foreshadowed in the story through interactions with other characters. When Harry noticed things he didn't like about Pearl, “Bertha wouldn't agree with him; not yet at least" (493). Bertha wanted Harry to like Pearl, which would increase Bertha's happiness, but this disagreement with him foreshadows how Bertha would soon know the truth about Pearl even though she had the ability to see the truth right then when talking to Harry. Harry had no reason to dislike Pearl, and Bertha could have questioned herself further and discovered the truth about his true feelings for Pearl. Another opportunity Bertha had to see the truth is when "Miss Fulton did not look at [Bertha]" (495) after coming into Bertha's house for dinner. Avoiding eye contact is seen in many people who have secrets to hide, and this shows how Pearl felt guilty about the things she was doing..