Essential Question

Right now in The PoisonWood Bible I am reading about Orleanna and how she met Nathan and furthermore came to be the beaten down and rather unhappy person that she now is which made reflect on my essential question; what is happiness. It seems that Orleanna was a blissfull young woman with the world at her feet until she met Nathan. He was once also a happy young person until he was drafted to war where in some very unfortunate insidents he came upon a shower of guilt for the loss of his comrads. This guilt never left him and soon found it's way to Orleanna. She became as witherd and haunted as Nathan himself. She became more and more depressed and suppressed by Nathan. Her life style declined with the birth of each of her four daughters. She felt a certain amount of guilt for bringing these girls into the world. She talked about how she felt a need to defend her daughters against Nathan, but knew that by hurting Nathan it would just end up reflecting off him and hurting her girls. Orleanna has an inward struggle to find her own happiness and leave Nathan however; she is weighed down by an unshakable guilt and perhaps reliance on Nathan. Her daughters, though never fully happy are on a steady decline. The family seems to be breaking and at the same time, each individual looks as though they are finding their selves, separate from each other and most of all, separate from Nathan. Finding themselves, I believe, will lead to an even better place for all of them.