Rasselas and the Happy Valley

Rasselas: The Prince of Abissinia is a novel that encapsulates every humans journey of discovery and growth. Written by the great English lexicographer Samuel Johnson in a single week, it stands as a great moral essay on happiness and the meaning of life.

Yosemite - My "Happy Valley"

 Rasselas grows up in a castle, in the middle of Happy Valley, which is described as a paradise. His only task is to grow up to be king. discontent with his life, and searching for happiness, Rasselas begins his journey. Written in a picaresque style, many of the themes of the enlightenment are present. Rasselas attempts to understand his world by observing it, and uses science to build a flying machine. He rejects his need to be king and authority in general, and tries to understand the order and reason of the world he is living in. With a harking back to Plato's cave, Rasselas must leave his happy valley to find the truth of the world around him. I have often felt like there are Happy Valleys which surround us. Mine is Yosemite, a place where I can ignore all the other problems in the world. Brigham Young University students refer to Provo Utah as a happy valley where the real world stays outside, and they can live in a bubble. This is useful for a time, but as the university motto pronounces, they must "enter to learn, go forth to serve" and in the going forth, they truly find themselves.


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