Happiness/Contentment

Lauren’s search for the perfect husband helps to develop her own definitions of happiness and contentment.

The more husbands that Lauren cycles through, the less happy she feels. Since she has an infinite number of choices and can “dodge repercussions” and “summon a new husband and with him a new world” whenever she likes, she convinces herself that she will someday find the perfect model of the happy marriage and happy life (80). For years, Lauren saw her neighbors Toby and Maryam’s relationship as the “model of ideal happiness” (73). However, she soon discovers that even Toby and Maryam’s dynamic is imperfect. This revelation in Chapter 10 challenges Lauren to rethink how she has been defining contentment and what the ideal life and partner might in fact mean to her. For a time, she begins to base her contentment on her brief marriage with Carter...