Symbolism of the 'pear tree' in Katherine Mansfield's short story "Bliss"

 Bliss

Katherine Mansfield

 

What does the pear tree symbolize and how does it relate to the main character Bertha Young in Katherine Mansfield's short story "Bliss",?

Answer: Katherine Mansfield's short story "Bliss," in which Bertha is in a state of happiness that she can't explain, sees her blossoming tree in her garden and sees it as a "symbol of her own life." From there he continues to recite all the supernatural things of his life that can delight one: youth, marriage, friends, wealth, books, music, "a great dress maker," a great kitchen, and a trip abroad. Since he has a shallow understanding of life, he hardly knows the truth of what he is saying; the pear tree is indeed a symbol of his life, but in a deep, intricate way he still has and never understands.

Mansfield chose the pear flower very deliberately for its rich, deep, complex meaning. In Greek mythology, pears were considered the sacred fruit of the gods Hera, Aphrodite and Pomna. The two most iconic goddesses are Hera and Aphrodite.

Hera was the wife and sister of Zeus and was the goddess of wife and marriage. Therefore, on one level, the pear blossoms, which will soon bear fruit, symbolizes her expected role as a woman and wife in Bertha's society. Interestingly, Bertha's pear tree is now only covered with flowers yet towards the end of the story, all of a sudden when Bertha began to see the revelation, "For the first time in her life ... she wished for her husband." It is in this moment of the story when she speaks of her absolute feelings of falling in love with her husband and her aspirations. Yet, just before this moment, he had many more complex feelings. Additionally, Hera is known for her jealousy towards the lovers of Zeus, at the end of the story Bertha is further embodied by a complex feeling and pear.

Aphrodite, who considers the pear sacred, is the goddess of love, beauty, joy and childbirth. To Bertha, Pearl Fulton introduces Aphrodite because she is beautiful and mysterious. Bertha thinks he fell in love with liberation, "as he always fell in love with beautiful women who were a little strange about them"; However, she is not entirely sure what she means when she feels herself in love as she further said that she and her husband are “in love much more than before”. The word love to Bertha represents a feeling of true appreciation rather than a sensual feeling, at least for the moment. Thus, the pear message associated with Aphrodite symbolizes Pearl's beauty, Bertha's great pleasure in being with Pearl's part, and the sexual feelings towards Pearl and the beautiful women in general that began to manifest in Bertha. Interestingly, Hera is extremely jealous of Aphrodite because Paris voted her as the most beautiful and at the end of the story feels this same jealousy of the beauty of Birth Pearl. Therefore, the rich, intricate symbol of the pear flower not only represents Bertha's role and feelings as a wife, her growing feelings and jealousy towards the same sex she feels that it is her husband, who is not himself, who has won Pearl.

With the exception of Greek mythology, the Victorians saw the pear as a symbol of communicating the pear, a sexual thought that was inappropriate to be expressed in polite society. Therefore, by showing that pear flowers are stuck between two more worlds as a symbol of her complex life, the role that society expects her to have as a wife and the role she has begun to fulfill as a lesbian lover. Yet, when her hopes of playing the role of her lover are dashed because she realizes that Pearl is her husband's lover, she sees that the tree is just as it has been all night.

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