xiii
ABSTRACT
KIRANA, FELISIA FANNY. Happiness as Seen through the Symbols of Eating, Prayer, and Love in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2016.
The object of the thesis is the novel Eat Pray Love. It was written by Elizabeth Gilbert in 2006 as a book of her spiritual journey. Eat Pray Love consists of 108 chapters and 445 pages.
There are two objectives of this study. The first objective is to reveal the symbols of eating, prayer, and love in this novel. The second objective is to find how the symbols of eating, prayer, and love reflect happiness.
The method utilized by the writer in analyzing this novel is library research. The primary source is the novel Eat Pray Love. The secondary sources are taken from books and articles related to the theory that the thesis uses which are theory about structuralism and theory about happiness. The other sources are taken from some websites that discuss several studies related with this thesis.
xiv
ABSTRAK
KIRANA, FELISIA FANNY. Happiness as Seen through the Symbols of Eating, Prayer, and Love in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2016.
Objek dari skripsi ini adalah novel berjudulEat Pray Love. Novel ini ditulis oleh Elizabeth Gilbert pada tahun 2006 sebagai buku dari perjalanan spiritualnya. Eat Pray Loveterdiri dari 108 bab dan 445 halaman.
Ada dua tujuan dalam penulisan skripsi ini. Tujuan yang pertama adalah untuk menunjukan simbol eating, prayer, dan love dalam novel ini. Tujuan yang kedua adalah menemukan bagaimana simbol-simbol eating, prayer,danlovemencerminkan kebahagiaan.
Metode yang digunakan penulis dalam menganalisis novel ini adalah studi pustaka. Sumber primer yang digunakan adalah novelEat Pray Love. Sumber-sumber sekunder yang digunakan diperoleh dari buku-buku dan artikel-artikel terkait dengan teori yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini yaitu teori mengenai strukturalis dan teori mengenai kebahagiaan. Sumber-sumber lain yang digunakan diperoleh dari halaman web yang membahas tentang studi-studi yang terkait dengan skripsi ini.
HAPPINESS AS SEEN THROUGH THE SYMBOLS OF EATING, PRAYER, AND LOVE IN ELIZABETH GILBERT’S EAT PRAY LOVE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
Felisia Fanny Kirana
Student Number: 114214112
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii
HAPPINESS AS SEEN THROUGH THE SYMBOLS OF EATING, PRAYER, AND LOVE IN ELIZABET GILBERT’S EAT PRAY LOVE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
Felisia Fanny Kirana
Student Number: 114214112
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vii
“
“
Ha
H
ap
pp
pi
in
ne
es
ss
s
i
is
s
c
ch
ho
oi
ic
ce
e,
,
c
ch
ho
oo
os
se
e
i
it
t
e
viii
FOR
MY GOD
WHO GIVES ME
THE GREATEST FAMILY
AND THE EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL
F
R
I
E
N
D
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to my greatest God for His blessings
in my entire life. My deepest gratitude also goes to my advisor, Mr. Hirmawan
Wijanarka, for guiding me from the start to the end in finishing this thesis. I thank
him for always giving me the best advices while I got confused working on my thesis.
To my co-advisor, Mr. Siswadi, I would like to express my gratitude for rechecking
and improving this thesis in order to make it better. I also wish to express my
gratitude to all the lecturers in English Letters Department for all the knowledge
given during the last four years.
To my greatest family, my father who calls himself Mr.Mid, I thank him for
always being here when I desperately need for help and for never rushing me to finish
this thesis, but always says ―You are beautiful, but you will be more beautiful if you
graduate soon.‖ I thank him for his kind words, those supports me so much. I thank
my mother, Angela Lies, who is never absent sending me her prayer to stay strong
and texting me with her spiritual words. My one and only sister, Irene Dina, thank her
x
I am also grateful to my best high school mates: Ajeng, Khanza, Novi, Evelyne,
Rara, Titis, and Intan who are always being here through ups and downs. To my
crazy friend, Ayut, who always asks me to send my thesis progress to her email, I
thank her for always checking my life, making sure that I am fine. To my college
friend, Vava, the one who gives me this Eat Pray Love novel, I thank her for
introducing me to this novel. To Amanda, Ester, Dita, Jere, those who are struggling
in thesis, I thank them for always accompanying me to finish this thesis together in
our favorite coffee shop. My ‗Sarjana Sastra‘ friends, Monika, Nonon, Regina, Alind,
Anita and all class D members, thank for encouraging me to finish this thesis soon.
My biggest thanks also go to my boyfriend, Claudius Barly, who can be my best
friend at the same time.
Finally, I realize that it is not the end. This is only the beginning. I‘m just getting
started to the real world and I would like to say, ―Hello, I‘m ready!‖
xi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE……… ii
APPROVAL PAGE………. iii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE……… iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH.. v
xii
3. Love ….………. 31
B. The Analysis of Happiness ……….... 35
1. Pleasure ………. 36
a. Pleasure in Italy ..……… 36
b. Pleasure in India .………. 38
c. Pleasure in Indonesia ….………. 40
2. Engagement ……….. 42
a. Engagement in Italy ………... 42
b. Engagement in India ………...……… 44
c. Engagement in Indonesia ……… 45
3. Meaning ……… 45
a. Meaning in Italy ………...…….……….. 46
b. Meaning in India …………..…….………... 48
c. Meaning in Indonesia ……….………... 50
CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION ……… 53
xiii
ABSTRACT
KIRANA, FELISIA FANNY. Happiness as Seen through the Symbols of Eating, Prayer, and Love in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2016.
The object of the thesis is the novel Eat Pray Love. It was written by Elizabeth Gilbert in 2006 as a book of her spiritual journey. Eat Pray Love consists of 108 chapters and 445 pages.
There are two objectives of this study. The first objective is to reveal the symbols of eating, prayer, and love in this novel. The second objective is to find how the symbols of eating, prayer, and love reflect happiness.
The method utilized by the writer in analyzing this novel is library research. The primary source is the novel Eat Pray Love. The secondary sources are taken from books and articles related to the theory that the thesis uses which are theory about structuralism and theory about happiness. The other sources are taken from some websites that discuss several studies related with this thesis.
The result of the analysis is that the symbols found which are eating, prayer, and love in this novel reflect happiness for Gilbert. Happiness is seen in the activities that Gilbert has done; eating, praying, and loving. Those three activities are related with
Seligman‘s authentic happiness theory which is pleasure, engagement, and meaning.
Thus, through the symbols of eating, prayer, and love during Gilbert‘s journey in the three countries; Italy, India, and Indonesia, happiness are found.
xiv
ABSTRAK
KIRANA, FELISIA FANNY. Happiness as Seen through the Symbols of Eating, Prayer, and Love in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2016.
Objek dari skripsi ini adalah novel berjudul Eat Pray Love. Novel ini ditulis oleh Elizabeth Gilbert pada tahun 2006 sebagai buku dari perjalanan spiritualnya. Eat Pray Love terdiri dari 108 bab dan 445 halaman.
Ada dua tujuan dalam penulisan skripsi ini. Tujuan yang pertama adalah untuk menunjukan simbol eating, prayer, dan love dalam novel ini. Tujuan yang kedua adalah menemukan bagaimana simbol-simbol eating, prayer, dan love mencerminkan kebahagiaan.
Metode yang digunakan penulis dalam menganalisis novel ini adalah studi pustaka. Sumber primer yang digunakan adalah novel Eat Pray Love. Sumber-sumber sekunder yang digunakan diperoleh dari buku-buku dan artikel-artikel terkait dengan teori yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini yaitu teori mengenai strukturalis dan teori mengenai kebahagiaan. Sumber-sumber lain yang digunakan diperoleh dari halaman web yang membahas tentang studi-studi yang terkait dengan skripsi ini.
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Happiness in our culture is commonly believed that it is achieved when we
become rich, powerful, or popular. In fact the rich, powerful, and popular people
still have problems in their life that makes them unhappy. One reason that makes
them unhappy is people have so much trouble attaining happiness, people have no
idea about what happiness is. Thus people often seek happiness by removing all
stress, sadness, and irritations.
The happiness seeker often makes so many efforts to feel the well being life.
As in the novel Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, Gilbert as the main character
in the novel searches her happiness by travelling across the three countries: Italy,
India, Indonesia. Liz Gilbert in this novel is very interesting to be analyzed
because in general, women are not brave and even too scared to take the risks. But
in this novel the main character, Liz, gives a different picture. Liz proved that she
has a right to express her freedom in looking for her happiness. According to that,
this research wants to reveal the happiness perspectives from Gilbert‘s
experiences through the symbols eating that she got in Italy, symbol prayer in
Each of the country that she visited symbolizes happiness for her. When living
in Italy she defines it as pleasure. She comes to Italy in order to experience
pleasure and to pursue her own happiness. She finds her happiness there in food,
in simple preparation of ordinary meals and yet so simple amount of pleasure:
How do I define pleasure?‖… Everything changed. Everything became... delicious... I found that all I really wanted was to eat beautiful food… That
was it. I passed a few hours once in the middle of October that might look like nothing much to the outside observer, but which I will always count amongst
the happiest of my life… Finally, when I had fully absorbed the prettiness of
my meal, I went and sat in a patch of sunbeam on my clean wooden floor and ate every bite of it, with my fingers, while reading my daily newspaper article in Italian. Happiness inhabited my every molecule (Gilbert,2010:82).
Liz Gilbert finds out her simply happiness by eating the food that she found
out in Italy. It is clearly stated in the novel about the food that she ate. Those were
pasta, gelato, and pizza when she visited Naples. All about foods that give her
pleasure, it is about eating. Pursuing pleasure, therefore, is a viable option for
increasing long-term well-being (Seligman, 2010:254). So she finds out her
pleasure there.
Next when she is in India, she feels peaceful with meditation and inner peace
through acceptance, that is all about prayer that she got from India. ―…We don‘t
realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme self who is
eternally at peace‖ (Elizabeth Gilbert, 2006:161). It shows an inner peace which is
actually on herself then she finally finds out the meaning of her life. The meaning
in life is an indicator of well being life and happiness. Based on Seligman, the
final pathway suggested pursuing happiness through meaning. Theorists and
researchers have often proposed that finding meaning in one‘s life is an important
In Indonesia, the final destination of Liz is to find out the engagement of life,
her lover there.
One by one, the thoughts and memories of sadness raised their hands, stood up to identify themselves. I looked at each thought, at each unit of sorrow, and I acknowledge its existence and felt its horrible pain. And then I would tell that
sorrow ―It‘s ok. I love you. I accept you. Come into my heart now. It‘s over.‖ I
would actually feel the sorrow (Gilbert, 2010:436).
It is about how Liz finally deals with herself which is for a long time she has
problems in her life. She just worries too much and runs away from the reality.
Now she finally ends up finding balance in her life. That balance is to be with a
man, Felipe. It is a sign that Liz makes an alternative route to well being through
engaging in activities that are engrossing and absorbing. It is state that has deemed
flow, that flow leads to long term well being. That flow to be with a man that she
loves.
A further reason to conduct this research is another interesting fact about this
novel that it was created based on real life experiences of the writer, Elisabeth
Gilbert. She wrote this novel due to the life problems that she faced. Even though
Gilbert could get what she wanted in life including a husband, a good career, and
a good health. But instead of feeling content and happy, she did not feel any joy
inside of herself. She went through a divorce, and then it is followed by Gilbert‘s
affair with another guy, another failed love, and she felt depressed and unhappy
about her life. Then all those problems lead her to travel around the three
The happiness is achieved in the three countries that Gilbert visited. The three
countries above indicates the pathway for Liz to pursue her happiness because in
those three countries contain a symbolic meaning for Liz Gilbert‘s happiness. The
symbolic meaning in Eat Pray Love novel is studied to find the happiness with the
paths to achieve it. The paths that indicate the happiness life are found in
Seligman theory about authentic happiness which is pleasure, engagement, and
meaning.
Seligman (2002) noted three distinct pathways to well-being:pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Behaviors that fall under each pathway contribute
to individual‘s well-being, but often people must make trade-offs between activities (e.g., the most meaningful activity may not be the most pleasurable) or rely on one pathway and neglect another. Seligman (2002) argues that the
pursuit of all the three pathways is important to live the ‗full life‘ (Seligman,
2010:253).
As seen in Seligman theory, the action that is done by the main character of
Eat Pray Love indicates the behavior to pursue the happiness. In glance, the title
itself Eat Pray Love symbolizes each country where the main character, Gilbert,
stays and finds out the happiness in each country. Eating, prayer, and love
symbolize happiness because they contain the three indicators of authentic
B. Problem Formulation
In order to analyze the orientation of happiness in Liz Gilbert‘s novel, here are
the research questions:
1. How are the symbols eating, prayer, and love in Eat Pray Love
presented?
2. How do the symbols of eating, prayer, and love reflect happiness?
C. Objectives of the Study
This research aims to find the relation between the symbols in the novel with
the happiness which is contained in the symbols. The purpose of this research is to
explain and give answers of the two problem formulation that are stated above.
The first objective is to reveal the symbols eating, prayer, and love in this novel.
The researcher can find how the symbols eating, prayer, and love presented
through the action; eat, pray, and love in this novel which holds more meaning.
The second objective is to find how the symbols eating, prayer, and love reflect
happiness. The researcher analyses the symbols showing happiness.
D. Definition of Terms
This part contains some definitions of key terms related to this study. They are
the explanations of some terms to avoid misunderstanding on certain terms and to
make this study more understandable. The first term used in this research is
of well being or contentment, a pleasurable or satisfying experience. The
philosophers often define happiness in terms of living a good life. Happiness has
also been defined as a state of well-being, characterized by emotions ranging from
contentment to intense joy (http://www.islamreligion.com).
The second term is symbol. Symbol, in the broadest use of the term, is
anything which signifies something else; in this sense, all words are symbols. As
commonly used in criticism, however, "symbol" is applied only to a word or
phrase signifying an object which itself has significance; that is, the object
referred to have a range of meaning beyond itself. Some symbols are
"conventional," or "public"; thus "the Cross," "the Red, White, and Blue," "the
Good Shepherd" are terms which signify objects of which the symbolic meanings
are widely known (Rinehart, 1957: 18).
The third term discusses the definition of eating, prayer, love. The definition
of eating while reading Purge: Rehab Diaries by Nicole Johns, about the author‘s
experiences in an eating disorder center. It came across the following definition of
normal eating. It was created by Ellyn Satter, an expert on eating and feeding.
Satter writes:
Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful
In short, the eating definition is related with pleasure in the novel when the
main character takes her food, ―…because they taste so wonderful.‖ Like Satter
said.
Next is the term prayer. According to Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha
Thera:
If prayer is necessary, it should be to strengthen the mind and not to beg for gains. The following prayer of a well-known poet, teaches us how to pray, Buddhists will regard this as meditation to cultivate the mind: Let me not pray to be sheltered from danger, but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it. Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved, but for the patience to win my freedom (http://www.budsas.org).
It emphasizes that prayer gives strength to face all the problems like Gilbert done
in this novel.
The last term is love. A more modern philosopher, Michael Boylan, discusses
his idea of love in his book The Good, The True and The Beautiful. He states that
love is an action, and the concept leads us to change and grow as human beings.
―Love is a powerful motivator for being good. The affective part of the good will
is no poor sister to the rational. It can be an effective guide to good action‖
8
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
A novel by Elizabeth Gilbert Eat Pray Love is a contemporary novel,
published in 2006 as the first edition. Eat Pray Love has ever been researched on
feminism approach. It was conducted by Natalia Herawati Sitorus. In her thesis
entitled The Pursuit of Self Identity Using Feminism in The Movie of ―EAT
PRAY LOVE‖ by Ryan Murphy. The problems which are analyzed are the
process of Liz Gilbert in finding her self identity and what Liz got after the
process. The analysis is based on the feminism theory by Simone De Beauvoir
about sex and identity. Natalia Herawati Sitorus using the qualitative method in
her research to find the result of the analysis. It is formed through her travel
around the world in three places, Italy, India and Bali. Therefore, Liz Gilbert in
Natalia Herawati‘s thesis is reflected a feminist character by Simone De Beauvoir
(http://eprints.binus.ac.id/).
Another study about this novel was conducted by Mahirana Siti Zenab
entitled Self-Actualization of The Main Character in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray
Love. In her thesis she made psychology analysis especially on needs theory by
Abraham Maslow which consists of D-needs (Deficit needs) and B-needs (Being
needs) or self-actualization. In the novel, the researcher finds the psychological
symptoms experienced by Elizabeth in the process of finding her life balance.
That is the process of achieving self-actualization level. The four basic needs
needs, and esteem needs. Those four stages that make Liz can find what actually
she wants, the balance of pleasure and solemnity in her life
(http://digilib.unimus.ac.id/).
Another thesis that is relevant to this study was written by Senja Pratiwi in
Eat Pray Love (2010) which covers the analysis of semantic features in the
translation of negative emotion lexicon by applying the NSM. Realizing the
importance of transferring emotion in translation, her study is focused on the
translation of the English emotion lexicon in Eat, Pray, Love into Makan, Doa,
Cinta by applying the natural semantic metalanguage approach (NSM) proposed
by Wierzbicka (1996). The discussion includes the identification of the category
of emotion concepts and the semantic features of the emotion lexicon. This study
also discusses the techniques of translation applied by the translator in translating
emotion concepts in Eat, Pray, Love into Makan, Doa, Cinta. The theory of
translation techniques used in this study was proposed by Molina and Albir (2002)
(http://www.pps.unud.ac.id).
Compared to those three previous studies, it can be known that the strength of
this study is in terms of the scope of structuralism which covers all explanation of
the symbols from the beginning until the end of story that is related with her
struggle in searching for happiness. The structuralism analysis of Eat Pray Love
makes this research different from Natalia Herawati Sitorus‘ research. By
conducting this research, the researcher offers a different view that the novel
entitled Eat Pray Love can be studied by structuralism approach. This analysis
for happiness. Gilbert‘s journey to new places symbolizes happiness in her real
life. Another different theory that is used is the indicator of authentic happiness
that is proposed by Seligman (2010:253–263).
B. Review of Related Theories
On this analysis, the writes provides some theories in order to answer the
problem formulation. There are two theories, the first theory is about the intrinsic
element of the novel which is symbol and the second one is theory about authentic
happiness by Seligman.
1. Theory of Symbol
The symbols in this novel represents the title itself Eat, Pray, Love. Eating
refers to Italy where Gilbert found out delicious foods there. Prayer refers to India
where she found out the inner peace and spiritual teacher. Last the word love
refers to Indonesia, the place where she met her lover. Thus the symbols of this
novel affect the orientation of the main character due to the main character‘s
searching for happiness across the three countries.
Based on Arp and Johnson in the explanation on Symbol, Allegory, and
Fantasy, symbol is one of many techniques available to authors to compress their
works yet still leave resounding effect to the readers. He noted the increase of
―emotional force‖ and ―resonance of a story‖ being accomplished by the use of
the aforementioned techniques (2006: 274). According to Arp and Johnson, a
literary symbol is something that means more than what it suggests on the surface.
It may be an object, a person, a situation, an action, or some other element that has
(2006: 274). Thus, it may be inferred that it is not an arbitrary or random task to
determine certain things as symbols, as Arp and Johnson puts it, ―the ability to
recognize and identify symbols requires perception and tact‖ (2006: 279).
The ability to interpret symbols is essential for a full understanding on
literature. Realizing this, he provides some guideline for readers to follow in
attempt to identify symbols used in a literary text. The followings are the cautions
Arp and Johnson suggested the readers to pay attention to:
a. ―Symbols nearly always signal their existence by emphasis, repetition, and
position” (Arp and Johnson, 2006: 280). What are meant by ―emphasis and
repetition‖ is clear through the sense they give, which is numerous or continual
mentions of an item may suggest that it is symbolic. The same goes for ―position‖,
it means that for an item to be called a symbol, it might be ―given prominence at
the beginning of the story, the climax, or the end of the story‖ (Arp and Johnson,
2006: 280).
b. ―The meaning of a literary symbol must be established and supported by
the entire context of the story‖ (Arp and Johnson, 2006: 280). Therefore, if the
alleged symbols do not have meaning inside instead of outside of the story, one
should be reluctant to say them as symbols.
Unlike the other three essays in the Anatomy, Frye's theory of symbols is
oriented toward an analysis of criticism. "Phases" are contexts within which
literature can be interpreted; they are primarily meant to describe critical
procedures rather than literary types; in short, they represent methods for
uses to differentiate the five phases. Here we encounter the breadth of reference
and unconventional usage so often found in Frye's work; for in the Second Essay
"symbol" is used to mean "any unit of literary structure which can be isolated for
critical attention". This broad definition permits Frye to associate the appropriate
kind of symbolism with each phase, and thereby define the phase at the highest
level of generality. The symbol used as a sign results in the descriptive phase; as
motif, in the literal phase; as image, in the formal phase; as archetype, in the
mythical phase; and as monad, in the anagogic phase (Robert D. Denham, 64).
The pointers above suggest that in order for a detail to be taken symbolically,
readers must render it by clues provided by the text itself. Thus, finding symbols
that are nonexistence is the same as perverting the meaning of a text. Both
overstating and understating a significant detail are not suggested in the attempt of
symbol identification and analysis.
2. Theory of Happiness
Second the theory of happiness is needed to support this study. That theory is
connected with the search for happiness of the main character which is
symbolized in the words eating, prayer, and love. By studying the indicators of
happiness from Seligman‘s theory then relating what happiness is from Gilbert‘s
Seligman‘s (2002) authentic happiness theory posits three distinct pathways
to well-being: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Each pathway is neither
sufficient nor redundant; therefore necessitating cultivation of each to achieve the
full life. Empirical work has demonstrated that these pathways are indeed distinct,
as each pathway is a unique predictor of life satisfaction, and that the presence of
all the three is associated with the highest levels of life satisfaction (Seligman,
2007). This supports Seligman‘s (2002) notion that a ‗full life‘ consists of
experiencing positive emotions, pursuing engagement, and obtaining meaning.
Here are each of these pathways and how they may contribute to happiness.
a. Pleasure
The link between pursuing pleasure and well-being is clear using a definition
of well-being. More experienced pleasure is equivalent to higher well-being.
Experiencing frequent positive emotions is related to long-term levels of positive
emotions as well as other aspects of well-being. Daily experiences of positive
emotions correlate strongly with reflections of how much positive emotion was
experienced during that time period. Indeed, the relationship between mean state
positive affect and general mood positive affect are large. Frequent experience of
positive emotions is also related to higher levels of life satisfaction. Pursuing
b. Engagement
An alternative route to well-being is through engaging in activities that are
engrossing and absorbing, a state that has deemed ‗flow‘. Although the subjective
experience during these states is void of emotion, on reflection, people report that
these situations are enjoyable. Flow also transforms important yet mundane tasks
into interesting activities. For example, creating a game from one‘s math
homework by seeing how many problems one could solve in 30 min makes the
assignment feel less bothersome and increases intrinsic motivation. Flow states,
therefore, may lead to long-term well-being through promoting positive resources,
such as nurturing talents, cultivating interest, and honing skills. We would
therefore expect that individuals who endorse frequently entering flow are more
productive and achieve higher levels of success. Some preliminary evidence
supports this as those who frequently experience flow persistent longer on tasks
and there-fore achieve better outcomes.
c. Meaning
The final pathway suggested by Seligman (2002) is to pursue happiness
through meaning. Theorists and researchers have often proposed that finding
meaning in one‘s life is an important determinant of psychological well-being.
Meaning allows one to transcend oneself, either through promoting positive social
relationships or connecting to a higher power or purpose (Seligman, 2002). An
purposeful, significant, and understandable. This sense of purpose provides
individuals with goals that guide action and promote well-being.
C. Theoretical Framework
In order to answer the research questions that are stated in the previous
chapter, some theories are needed. They are the theory of symbol and the theory
of happiness by Seligman in Pursuit of Pleasure, Engagement, and Meaning.
First, to answer the first of the research question, theory of symbol is used to
know what are the symbols in the story that becomes important part in this study.
In Eat Pray Love, the researcher finds out that the three countries reveal the
symbolic meaning to the story. Thus, theory of symbols is needed. Arp and
Johnson‘s theory on Symbols is chosen since the theory provides the pointers to
find the symbols employed in a novel. After identifying the so called ―alleged‖
symbols, one needs to observe if their meanings are ―established and supported by
the entire context of the story‖ (Arp and Johnson, 2006: 280). If the alleged
symbols do not have meaning inside instead of outside of the story, one should be
reluctant to say them as symbols.
Second, in answering the research question number two, the writer needs the
theory of happiness that is proposed by Seligman to relate the connection between
the symbol of eating, prayer, and, love with the three indicators of happiness.
According to Seligman, this supports his notion that a ‗full life‘ consists of
experiencing positive emotions, pursuing engagement, and obtaining meaning
Moreover the theory of happiness that is indicated with the three pathways
helps the writer to examine the symbols in the novel that reflects happiness. The
three pathways of happiness are proposed by Seligman. They are revealed in the
words eating, prayer, and love that the main character got while doing a journey
17
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
Eat Pray Love is a novel written by Elizabeth Gilbert, published by the Penguin
Group in February 2006 as its first edition. Gilbert wrote this novel during her
journey across the three countries; Italy, India, and Indonesia. Eat Pray Love as a
New York Times best seller novel for over 200 weeks, is also made into a film by the
same name Eat Pray Love (http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/).
In 2010, the film adaption by Columbia Pictures was directed by Ryan Murphy
and starred Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert, Javier Bardem as Felipe, James Franco
as David Piccolo, Richard Jenkins as Richard from Texas, and Billy Crudup as
Steven. The success of Eat Pray Love brought the novel into over ten million copies
and got the first position on the Booksense Paperback Nonfiction List for over a year
(http://www.imdb.com/title).
This novel is about a woman‘s search for everything across Italy, India, and
Indonesia. The main character in the novel, Elizabeth Gilbert, tells how she made the
difficult choices to leave modern American success including marriage, house, and a
successful career as a writer and find out what she truly wanted in life by doing the
journey across the three countries. The countries that Gilbert visited are symbolized
and enjoying life, so eating represents Italy. Then she spent three months in India
finding her spirituality through praying, the word praying in the title symbolize
activity she has done in India. Gilbert ended the year in Indonesia looking for balance
in life and felt in love with a Brazilian businessman, thus love is found in Indonesia.
Elizabeth Gilbert‘s Eat Pray Love reflects the way of Gilbert in searching her
happiness from life through the eating activity, the prayer, and the love. Those three
things symbolize happiness for Gilbert based on Seligman‘s theory of authentic
happiness. Seligman‘s theory reveals that happiness is achieved when the three
indicators are found; pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Thus, the writer concludes
that Gilbert finds her happiness by examining the three indicators in her eating
activity, prayer, and love.
B. Approach of the Study
After knowing the object of the study, the writer needs to determine the approach
of the study to answer the formulated research questions. The approach that is used in
this study is structuralism which is focused on the content of the symbolic meaning in
the novel. The reason for the appropriateness of structuralism as the approach lies in
the Saussure‘s statement. According to Saussure, a key figure in the development of
modern approaches to language study, the meanings of words are relational. That is to
given word depends upon its relation with other adjoining words. This relational
aspect of language gave rise to a famous remark of Saussure‘s: ‗In a language there
are only differences, without fixed terms‘. For Saussure, language constitutes our
world; it does not just record it or label it. Meaning is always attributed to the object
or idea by the human mind, and constructed by and expressed through language: it is
not already contained within the thing (Barry, 2002:41-43).
So structuralist‘s thinking stressed on the structuralist‘s comments on structure,
symbol, and design, become paramount, and are the main focus of the commentary
(Barry, 2002:52). Based on that reason, structuralism is the most suitable approach
for this study since it attempts to see the object of the study through the symbolic
meaning. The symbolic meaning in this novel leads to observe the words eating,
prayer, and love as the indicators of happiness, correlated with the theory of
happiness by Seligman.
Seligman defines the happiness is reached as seen in the Eat Pray Love’s
symbols, thus structuralism becomes the most suitable tool in this study correlated
with Saussure‘s statement in structuralism ―Language constitutes the world‖ (Barry,
2002:43). Language that is used in Eat Pray Love constitutes the deeper meaning
about happiness that has been through by Gilbert. The appropriateness of
structuralism as the approach also lies in the Selden‘s statement that ―At the heart of
structuralism is the scientific ambition to discover the codes, the rule, the systems,
discovered in the novel gives the larger meaning for the main character‘s life in
searching happiness. That larger meaning for the main character is found through
cultural practices that are done in the three countries. Selden‘s statement is also
restated by Barry saying that structuralists regard the containing structure as the most
important activity than the close analysis of the literary work itself since they
believed that one must see a literary text ―in the context of the larger structure they
are part of‖ to understand the text (Barry, 2002: 39-40). For those reasons,
structuralism is the most suitable approach for this research because it attempts to see
the object of the study through the symbols in this novel which contains some
indicators of the happiness‘ theory.
C. Method of the Study
This research is a library research because the writer uses the sources or
references based on some printed or electronic sources without going to the field and
collecting data using questionnaires. The primary source that the writer uses is Eat
Pray Love novel by Elizabeth Gilbert and the secondary sources that are used are
some books and websites related to this study based on the same topic of this
research.
There were five steps taken by the writer in this research. The first step was
The second step was finding out the symbols in Eat Pray Love novel from the first
place Italy, India, and ended in Indonesia to examine the symbol of eating, prayer,
and love. The third step was studying some related studies having Eat Pray Love as
their object. This step was done to know which areas of study had been taken and
which had not, thus the writer can emphasize on the new area which had not been
studied before. The fourth step was collecting some theories about symbols from
some books and websites that related to this study. Symbolism is used in this research
to answer the first problem formulation stated above. After the theories of symbols
were collected, this study needs to be completed with theories of happiness purposed
by Seligman. The happiness theory was needed to answer the second problem
formulation in this research. That theory was related with the symbols in the novel as
the indicators of happiness. Each symbol in this novel was a sign of happiness life
that is achieved by the main character. The fifth step was making the conclusion from
22
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this part of study, the writer wants to analyze the answers for the two problem
formulation mentioned above. The analysis is divided into two parts based on each
problem to answer each of them. In the first part, structuralism which is focused on
the content of the symbolic meaning in the novel is needed because in the first part of
analysis is to answer how the symbols eating, prayer, and love in Eat Pray Love are
presented while the second part is to answer the second problem formulation which is
how the symbols of eating, prayer, and love reflect happiness.
A. Analysis of Symbols
According to Robert and Jacobs, a symbol is a person, thing, place, action,
situation, or even thought. It possesses its own reality and meaning and may function
at the normal level of reality within story (Robert and Jacobs, 1987:279). In this first
analysis, the symbol found; eating, prayer, and love through the place, action, or even
thought that is stated by Robert and Jacobs. That theory is supported by Saussure in
the scope of structuralism that language is arbitrary, relational, and constitutive.
This study only focuses on the language that is constitutive. It means to say that
no word can be defined in isolation from other words. The definition of any given
word depends upon its relation with other adjoining words. This relational aspect of
differences, without fixed terms‘. For Saussure, language constitutes our world; it
does not just record it or label it. Meaning is always attributed to the object or idea by
the human mind, and constructed by and expressed through language: it is not already
contained within the thing (Barry, 2002:41-43) Saussure‘s statement suits to the
symbols in the novel that has meaning in constituting Gilbert‘s world. Hence, the first
analysis goes to the first country Gilbert visited which is Italy.
I. Eating
The first place that Gilbert visited is Italy. In Italy she found out the things that
symbolizes happiness for her. Those ―the things‖ of happiness that Gilbert got in Italy
are classified into two major, language and food. Food comes along with the action
that is done by Gilbert, which is eating. As mentioned above in the first problem
formulation, the word eating as a symbol found for Gilbert and here is the
explanation.
Gilbert‘s feeling of contentment since a few weeks she was living in Italy after
having meal she ate in Rome. ―After the spaghetti, I tried the veal. Oh, and also I drank a bottle of house red, just for me. And ate some warm bread, with olive oil and salt. Tiramisu for dessert (Gilbert, 2006:45).
In a few weeks after living in Italy and eating some food in Italy, Gilbert is
experiencing the state of being contented or satisfied. The contentment feeling she
had after enjoying some meals in Italy. Then Gilbert finds out and realizes that Italy
happiness through eating. Everything that she experienced in Italy turns into
something delicious; it is the word for Italy in Gilbert‘s opinion. ―Everything became
. . . delicious‖ (Gilbert, 2006:82).
Every meal that Gilbert ate is giving her happiness. She described her meal as
something pretty and enjoyed every bite of the meal that she ate while reading Italian
newspaper.
Finally, when I had fully absorbed the prettiness of my meal, I went and sat in a patch of sunbeam on my clean wooden floor and ate every bite of it, with my fingers, while reading my daily newspaper article in Italian. Happiness inhabited my every molecule (Gilbert, 2006:84).
The happiness feeling while enjoying meal makes Gilbert love the meal so much.
Besides spaghetti, she also loves pizza as she said ―I am having a relationship with
this pizza‖ (Gilbert, 2006:105). It proves her love to the Italian food so much.
Happiness really inhabited Gilbert‘s molecule, it sees when she was in the best
pizzeria in Naples, she looked herself in the mirror and saw a happy face of her. ―I
see a bright-eyed, clear-skinned, happy and healthy face. I haven‘t seen a face like
that on me for a long time‖ (Gilbert, 2006:107).
Moreover happiness always comes when Gilbert sees another Italian food and
describes them in a delicate way. She describes the gelato in Bologna that is better
than in Rome, also the pizzas with mushrooms that are like big thick sexy tongues
and prosciutto that drapes over it like a fine lace veil draping over a fancy lady‘s hat.
In addition the Bolognese sauce there is the best in Italy.
that, but it‘s true). The mushrooms here are like big thick sexy tongues, and the
prosciutto drapes over pizzas like a fine lace veil draping over a fancy lady‘s hat. And of course there is the Bolognese sauce, which laughs disdainfully at any other idea of a ragù (Gilbert, 2006:130-131).
The way Gilbert delivers her idea about the foods that she ate in Bologna is a
proof that she is happy enjoying the foods that she had in Italy. Adding by some
explanation of Gilbert while eating pasta in Italy shows that the meal she has eaten is
amazing.
I am busily eating the hands-down most amazing meal I‘ve eaten yet in all of
Italy. It‘s pasta, but a shape of pasta I‘ve never before seen—big, fresh, sheets of pasta folded ravioli-like into the shape (if not exactly the size) of the pope‘s hat, stuffed with a hot, aromatic puree of crustaceans and octopus and squid, served tossed like a hot salad with fresh cockles and strips of julienned vegetables, all swimming in an olivey, oceany broth. Followed by the rabbit, stewed in thyme (Gilbert, 2006:149).
As mentioned above that eating Italian food is the source of happiness for Gilbert
and learning Italian language either is the source of happiness for her. Gilbert finds
out that Italian language is interesting to learn. She enjoys every detail about Italian
language by learning Italian dictionary. The new words that she got makes her feeling
a brand new and successfully give happiness, she finally laughs, leaves her sorrow of
bad divorce.
But I loved it. Every word was a singing sparrow, a magic trick, a truffle for me. I would slosh home through the rain after class, draw a hot bath, and lie there in the bubbles reading the Italian dictionary aloud to myself, taking my mind off my divorce pressures and my heartache. The words made me laugh in delight (Gilbert, 2006:30).
Italian language is such a symbol of happiness for Gilbert when she was in Italy.
was a singing sparrow. The words bring her happiness because she can laugh after
reading the Italian dictionary.
Gilbert expresses her happiness by learning Italian language. She enjoys learning
the words that what makes her feeling happy, as she said ―Just speaking these words made me feel sexy and happy‖ (Gilbert, 2006:30).
Italian language also makes Gilbert feeling sexy. It seems giving her courage and
confident of herself thus bring happiness to her by speaking those Italian words.
Before leaving for Italy, Gilbert usually cried and worried while laying down in her
bed, but now she feels fine. She feels happiness, the felling of contentment. ―I felt
fine. I felt the early symptoms of contentment‖ (Gilbert, 2006:46).
The feeling of contentment that she experiences after learning Italian language
because she thinks that Italian language is beautiful. ―As I will find out over the next
few months, there are actually some good reasons that Italian is the most seductively
beautiful language in the world‖ (Gilbert, 2006:57).
Gilbert considers Italian language is a beautiful language, in the way Italian
language makes her happy. She emphasizes on how Italian language is beautiful:
Everybody, even the uptight German engineer, shares what I thought was my own personal motive: we all want to speak Italian because we love the way it makes us feel. A sad-faced Russian woman tells us she‘s treating herself to
Italian lessons because ―I think I deserve something beautiful.‖ The German engineer says, ―I want Italian because I love the dolce vita‖—the sweet life (Gilbert, 2006:57).
Both German engineer and Russian woman loves Italian language, inevitably
feel the sweet life. Even Gilbert is alone in Italy, she feels the sweet and romantic
scene in Italy. She feels contented by hearing the sweet expression in Italian
language; Bel far niente means ―the beauty of doing nothing.‖ There‘s another
wonderful Italian expression: l‘arte d‘arrangiarsi—the art of making something out of
nothing. Those two expressions emphasize that we don‘t need to be rich to experience
those expression, we just need to be happy for that. ―Anyone with a talent for
happiness can do this, not only the rich.‖ (Elizabeth Gilbert, 2006:80-81) Besides
those two expression, Gilbert also loves the word ―attraversiamo‖ that means ―let‘s
cross the street‖. She just loves this word because to her ear, this word is just the
perfect combination of Italian language. ―The wistful ah of introduction, the rolling
trill, the soothing s, that lingering ―ee-ah-moh‖ combo at the end. I love this word‖
(Gilbert, 2006:95).
Those Italian languages give Gilbert happiness. She counts the months when she
is in Italy as the happiest time in her life because she can experience both eating and
learning Italian language which are the source of her happiness.
So I declared a double major, really—in speaking and in eating. The amount of pleasure this eating and speaking brought to me was inestimable, and yet so simple. I passed a few hours once in the middle of October that might look like nothing much to the outside observer, but which I will always count amongst the happiest of my life (Gilbert, 2006:83).
Gilbert had a correlation between eating and speaking based on Italian. ―Parla
come magni.‖ It means, ―Speak the way you eat,‖ or, in her personal translation: ―Say
Roman food. ―Don‘t make a big production out of it. Just lay it on the table‖ (Gilbert,
2006:115).
The first major of Gilbert‘s happiness lays on the Italian food and it is supported
by Italian language. She finds out something beautiful in studying Italian language.
Both food and language are what she is searching for: happiness.
But I felt a glimmer of happiness when I started studying Italian, and when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt—this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight (Gilbert, 2006:154).
No matter how slight the happiness is, at least Gilbert makes her way to find it.
Finally she gets it, Gilbert finds out her happiness through her eating journey in Italy.
2. Prayer
The second place that Gilbert visited is India where she was doing meditation
through yoga in Ashram. Ashram is such a sacred place in India where she found out
happiness. Happiness can be found through the yoga activity because in that case
Gilbert can meet God in meditation or silence. That is one of her contentment in
India.
But Yoga can also mean trying to find God through meditation, through scholarly study, through the practice of silence, through devotional service or through mantra—the repetition of sacred words in Sanskrit (Gilbert, 2006:160).
Through meditation in yoga, Gilbert can find God and feel the state of being
united between her mind and body and the most important thing she can finally be
And the task at hand in Yoga is to find union—between mind and body, between the individual and her God, between our thoughts and the source of our thoughts, between teacher and student, and even between ourselves and our sometimes hard-to-bend neighbors (Gilbert, 2006:160).
Gilbert also meets her Guru, a spiritual teacher in Ashram, that gives her
enlighten about life.
My Guru always says that only one thing will happen when you come to the Ashram—that you will discover who you really are. So if you‘re hovering on the
brink of madness already, she‘d really rather you didn‘t come at all. Because,
frankly, nobody wants to have to carry you out of this place with a wooden spoon clenched between your teeth (Gilbert, 2006:170).
Gilbert discovers who she really is, ―You are, after all, what you think. Your
emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions‖
(Gilbert, 2006:175). It means to say that she realizes the problem of herself, the
problem of thinking. Gilbert should master her thinking like her Guru said that ―You
should never give yourself a chance to fall apart because, when you do, it becomes a
tendency and it happens over and over again. You must practice staying strong,
instead‖ (Gilbert, 2006:181). Thus Gilbert practices it that she should come with the
positive though to produce the positive vibes of the life and never let the negativity
affect her life. It is the key to stay strong no matter what happens, it is in the way of
thinking.
Gilbert learns many things in India especially in controlling her thinking. She
meets Richard in India who calls her ―Groceries‖ and also teaches her to master her
Groceries, you need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you
select what clothes you‘re gonna wear every day. This is a power you can
cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind.
That‘s the only thing you should be trying to control. Drop everything else but
that. Because if you can‘t learn to master your thinking, you‘re in deep trouble
forever (Gilbert, 2006:236).
Learning to control her thinking is a way that Gilbert has done in India. ―Instead
of trying to forcefully take thoughts out of your mind, give your mind something
Both talking and listening to God is something that Gilbert searching for in India
―I just want God. I want God inside me. I want God to play in my bloodstream the
way sunlight amuses itself on water‖ (Gilbert, 2006:233). And she gets what she has
been searching for in India, finding the God and she feels physically and mentally
strong. ―I felt my own strength and balance‖ (Gilbert, 2006:250).
passerby, unaware that his fortune was right under him the whole time. Your treasure—your perfection—is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart. The kundalini shakti—the supreme energy of the divine—will take you there (Gilbert, 2006:262).
The activities that she was doing in India; yoga, gurugita activity, meditation,
eating healthy foods, and the bedtimes bring her to contentment and happy feeling
that she has been hoping for all these months of seeking happiness.
My body felt so alive and healthy from all these months of Yoga and vegetarian food and early bedtimes. I felt so deeply, terribly happy. I thought to myself,
―Whatever this feeling is—this is what I have been praying for. And this is also
what I have been praying to‖ (Gilbert, 2006:270).
And in the last night in Ashram, Gilbert feels something changes in herself. She
believes the strength of prayer that she has never done before leaving for India.
Prayer changes her spiritual life. She does something good that never she has done
before, the exclusive prayer for expressing her gratitude.
I‘m not a late-night person by nature, but something in me wants to stay awake for these last hours at the Ashram. There are many things in my life I‘ve stayed up all night to do—to make love, to argue with someone, to drive long distances, to dance, to cry, to worry (and sometimes all those things, in fact, in the course of one night)—but I‘ve never sacrificed sleep for a night of exclusive prayer. Why not now? (Gilbert, 2006:278).
Through prayer, Gilbert finds herself. Prayer in that case exactly symbolizes
happiness for Gilbert. She changes the negative energy in her life with the positive
one through prayer. She finds herself by finding God in her spiritual experiences in
India.
The last country goes to Indonesia where Gilbert finally found her love, her
happiness for her. At the first, Gilbert comes to Bali, Indonesia, in order to see a
medicine man that she met two years ago. ―But I‘m Liz. I came here asking for your
help once because I wanted to get closer to God. You drew me a magic picture‖
(Gilbert, 2006:293). The medicine man named Ketut had ever made a magic picture
to Gilbert. That magic picture gave Gilbert guidance in living her life.
So I describe the picture he had made for me, the figure with the four legs and the missing head and the face in the heart and he listens to me politely, with
modest interest, like we‘re discussing somebody else‘s life entirely (Gilbert,
2006:293-294).
The picture with the four legs means it is so grounded on earth and the missing
head means it is not looking at the world through the intellect but looking at the world
through the heart as the description of the face in the heart. That picture teaches
Gilbert to live in the way Ketut described the figure he made. Be a low profile person
that is still grounded on the earth and seeing the world nowadays through the heart.
Meeting the medicine man makes Gilbert get some happiness in Bali. The
medicine man also teaches Gilbert about meditation.
Purpose of meditation is only happiness and peace—very easy. Today I will teach a new meditation, make you even better person. Is called Four Brothers Meditation (Gilbert, 2006:333).
Then Gilbert always practices Four Brothers Meditation that is taught by Ketut.
The meditation makes Gilbert feel secure because she is always watched by the
spirit of four brothers who will protect her. She makes some efforts to achieve her
contentment by the meditation.
Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don‘t, you will leak away your innate contentment (Gilbert, 2006:345).
She also got happiness from all people she met when she was in Bali, Indonesia.
While searching for Ketut‘s house, Gilbert rode her rented bicycle and got accident in
the road. Ending up she came to the medicine woman who is famous at that place for
helping Gilbert cure her wounds, named Wayan. After having a long conversation
with Wayan, Gilbert realized her love to help Wayan‘s family; Wayan and Tutty who
is Wayan‘s daughter. She wanted to help Wayan lives in her own house, not renting a
house that does not appropriate for her and her daughter.
In short, Gilbert collected donation from all her friends all around the world
through internet and she got enough money to help Wayan buying a new house for
her and her daughter, Tutti. Wayan is extremely happy knowing the good news from
Gilbert. ―How can I thank you, Liz? I would give you anything. If I had husband I
loved, and you needed a man, I would give you my husband‖ (Gilbert, 2006:373).
Those expression from Wayan shows how happy she is. Her Wayan‘s happiness is
also happiness for Gilbert. She helped Wayan sincerely. ―Keep your husband, Wayan.
Happiness really inhabited Gilbert‘s life in Bali. Her birthday was an
unforgettable since Wayan and her family makes a birthday party for Gilbert in
Balinese tradition. It was the best birthday party that Gilbert had ever experienced in
her whole life as she said.
My traditional Balinese clothing was squeezing me like an ardent hug, and I was feeling like this was definitely the strangest—but maybe the happiest—birthday
party I‘d ever experienced in my whole life (Gilbert, 2006:407).
Ketut and Wayan, are the people that give happiness for Gilbert since she was in
Indonesia. Besides them, Gilbert also found her true love in Indonesia, the Brazilian
man named Felipe. ―I am falling in love with this man. Then I fell asleep beside him
and had two memorable dreams‖ (Gilbert, 2006:417).
Having a broken relationship with many men not makes Gilbert want to be
involved anymore, but not with this man. The feeling for this Brazilian man comes in
unexpected way when she was attending a party with Karmen, Gilbert‘s friend that
also comes from Brazil.
Meeting Felipe teaches Gilbert to accept the pains that she has ever experienced
with the previous relationship. She is not afraid anymore to be in love, both to be
loved and loves someone. Felipe brings a new love for her.
I looked at each thought, at each unit of sorrow, and I acknowledged its existence and felt (without trying to protect myself from it) its horrible pain. And then I
would tell that sorrow, ―It‘s OK. I love you. I accept you. Come into my heart
now. It‘s over‖ (Gilbert, 2006:436).
The misery that ever came to her life is over now. The painful memory that was
reaching back into years of memory—until nothing was left‖ (Gilbert, 2006:436).
Felipe is a love that brings her a complete happiness.
I am happy and healthy and balanced. And, yes, I cannot help but notice that I am sailing to this pretty little tropical island with my Brazilian lover. Which is—I admit it!—an almost ludicrously fairy-tale ending to this story, like the page out
of some housewife‘s dream (Gilbert, 2006:438).
Gilbert truly finds out happiness by loving all these people that she meets in
Indonesia. Moreover the last one is Felipe that takes her to fairy tale ending. It is not
Felipe that saves her from all the bad memories, but Gilbert‘s choice to choose Felipe
as her lover is a kind of Gilbert‘s responsibility for her own happiness. ―I was not
rescued by a prince; I was the administrator of my own rescue‖ (Gilbert, 2006:439).
At last, Italy, India, and Indonesia give Gilbert happiness in each way. Eating and
learning Italian language symbolizes happiness in Italy. Prayer and all the stuff of
yoga and meditation gave Gilbert contentment. Finally in Indonesia through the
people that she meets, Ketut, Wayan, and in the end Felipe as her lover, are the proof
of Gilbert finding her happiness.
B. The Analysis of Happiness
Happiness is found in every country that Gilbert visited, in Italy, India, and
Indonesia. Italy reflects the symbol of happiness for Gilbert which is foods and Italian
language. India reveals a happiness of Gilbert by praying and meditation activity.
Indonesia shows a symbol of happiness through the love for her lover and people that
The symbols of happiness are supported by Seligman‘s authentic happiness
theory, which are pleasure, engagement, and meaning. They are the pathways for
anyone who is on the way to achieve happiness. These three pathways are predictor to
get the well-being life.
Three distinct pathways to well-being: pleasure, engagement, and meaning.
Empirical work has demonstrated that these pathways are indeed distinct, as each
pathway is a unique predictor of life satisfaction, and that the presence of all the three
is associated with the highest levels of life satisfaction (Seligman, 2010:254). Those
pathways are reflected in the way Gilbert done to achieve her happiness.
1. Pleasure
The link between pursuing pleasure and well-being is clear using a definition of
well-being. More experienced pleasure is equivalent to higher well-being.
Experiencing frequent positive emotions is related to long-term levels of positive
emotions as well as other aspects of well-being. Daily experiences of positive
emotions correlate strongly with reflections of how much positive emotion was
experienced during that time period (Seligman, 2010:254). Frequent experience of
positive emotions is also related to higher levels of life satisfaction. Pursuing
pleasure, therefore, is a viable option for increasing long-term well-being.
a. Pleasure in Italy
Daily experiences of positive emotions correlate strongly with reflections of how
much positive emotion was experienced during that time period. Thus it is called
