Synthesized answer
The author immediately challenges a simplistic definition of "happiness" by showcasing Oyvind's complex emotional responses from birth. He cries when born, but then laughs on his mother's lap and when the room is lit [1]. However, this laughter is juxtaposed with his crying when he is not allowed to reach the candle, indicating a desire and subsequent frustration [1]. This early display of contrasting emotions—joy and thwarted desire—suggests that happiness is not a constant state of unadulterated bliss but involves a range of feelings and unmet needs from the very beginning of the narrative.
Further, Oyvind himself articulates a more nuanced view of happiness. He states, "I will tell you why I have been so happy before: it was because I did not really love any one; from the day we love some one, we cease to be happy," and then bursts into tears [2]. This declaration directly contradicts a simple definition by linking happiness to a state of emotional detachment and suggesting that love, a seemingly positive emotion, can lead to unhappiness. The passages also depict his awareness of his social standing as a "houseman's son," which makes him feel small and prompts him to recall…
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From the book
us translations have been consulted, and that in this manner a few happy words and phrases have been found and adopted. This volume will be followed by "The Fisher Maiden," in which Bjornson makes a new departure, and exhibits his powers in a somewhat different vein of story-telling. RASMUS B. ANDERSON. ASGARD, MADISON, WISCONSIN, November, 1881. A HAPPY BOY. CHAPTER I. His name was Oyvind, and he cried when he was born. But no sooner did he sit up on his mother's lap than he laughed, and when the candle was lit in the evening the room rang with his laughter, but he cried when he was…
not want to think of it; neither did he wish to think of the future, for there was nothing to which he looked forward. "But what, then, is it I am thinking of?" he queried, half aloud, and when he had heard his own voice, he thought: "You can still speak, can you laugh?" And then he tried it; yes, he could laugh, and so he laughed loud, still louder, and then it occurred to him that it was very amusing to be sitting laughing here all by himself, and he laughed again. But Hans, the comrade who had been sitting beside him, came out after him. "Good gracious, what are you laughing at?"…
houseman at Pladsen." Oyvind had always known that he was a houseman's son; but until now he had never realized it. It made him feel so very little, smaller than all the rest; in order to keep up he had to try and think of all that hitherto had made him happy and proud, from the coasting hill to each kind word. He thought, too, of his mother and his father, who were now sitting at home and thinking that he was having a good time, and he could scarcely hold back his tears. Around him all were laughing and joking, the fiddle rang right into his ear, it was a moment in which something…
A HAPPY BOY BY BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON TRANSLATED FROM THE NORSE BY RASMUS B. ANDERSON AUTHOR'S EDITION PUBLISHER'S NOTE. The present edition of Bjornstjerne Bjornson's works is published by special arrangement with the author. Mr. Bjornson has designated Prof. Rasmus B. Anderson as his American translator, cooperates with him, and revises each work before it is translated, thus giving his personal attention to this edition. PREFACE. "A Happy Boy" was written in 1859 and 1860. It is, in my estimation, Bjornson's best story of peasant life. In it the…
about an arithmetic table; the school-master, an old, gray-haired man, sat on a stool by the hearth, filling his pipe. They all looked up when Oyvind and his mother came in, and the clatter ceased as if the mill-stream had been turned off. Every eye was fixed on the new-comers; the mother saluted the school-master, who returned her greeting. "I have come here to bring a little boy who wants to learn to read," said the mother. "What is the fellow's name?" inquired the school-master, fumbling down in his leathern pouch after tobacco. "Oyvind," replied the mother, "he knows his letters and…
More questions about this book
- The publisher's note extensively details Bjornson's "special arrangement" and personal involvement in revising the translation. If you were to explain the *implicit contract* this creates with the reader, how would you articulate what this information promises about the fidelity and authenticity of the text, and why it's considered important enough to highlight before the story even begins?
- The preface praises the author's "profound psychological insight" and ability to draw characters with "remarkable distinctness." How does the very first chapter, through Oyvind's initial reactions and Marit's elaborate self-introduction, immediately begin to demonstrate or lay the groundwork for these specific literary strengths?
- Consider Oyvind's initial contrasting reactions—crying at birth, laughing at the candle, crying when denied it—and his mother's prophecy. If you were explaining the *narrative efficiency* of these brief opening details, how would you argue they establish Oyvind's fundamental nature and hint at potential future conflicts or desires, rather than simply being early anecdotes?
- The text introduces elements like a "barren cliff" overhanging the house, a goat kept on the roof, and Marit describing herself as "the hulder of the house." How might these seemingly distinct details of setting and character description collaboratively contribute to the story's initial atmosphere or subtly foreshadow deeper symbolic meanings or thematic explorations?