Jeanette’s journey to happiness in Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Abstract

This project aims to determine the implications of Jeanette’s “happiness” in the fictional memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. The research has focused not only on the dichotomy implicit in the title’s question, but also on the ramifications that the choice of “being happy” has throughout the entire narrative. The theoretical framework for this paper has been based mainly on Sara Ahmed’s critical analysis of the concept of happiness in The Promise of Happiness and the queer perspectives and alternatives that she suggests, and ultimately on the need of redefining an inclusive happiness