A Comparison Of Two Kinds Of Happiness In Jewish Short Novels

Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short stories relate the daily life of Jews, focusing on Jews’ existential status and their spiritual life. His short stories reflect two different kinds of happiness views. Based on the theory of Maslow’s hierarchy of need and a close reading of six of his short stories, this thesis makes a comparison study of the two different happiness views held by two kinds of Jews in his short stories: “real” fools and “unreal” smart men.“Real” fools follow Jewish faith, and are proud of being God’s Chosen People. In their eyes’, deficiency needs are not as important as advanced needs and virtues are worthwhile goals. “Unreal” smart men manage to break the bondage of Jewish faith but are lost in the materialistically-oriented world.The Jews are not the only ones who face this dilemma. Actually all humanity is in the same situation. Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short stories describe and reflect the existential status of all humanity. The conclusion of this thesis is that the happiness comes from satisfaction of deficiency needs is superficial. Real and stable happiness is based on the satisfaction of growth needs and Metaneeds but not deficiency needs.