Summary
Narrated in the first person by the novel’s 32-year-old protagonist, Helen Carpenter, Happiness for Beginners opens with Helen dropping off her mini dachshund, Pickle, to be looked after by her brother, Duncan, for three weeks. When she arrives at Duncan’s filthy, chaotic apartment, the place is filled with drunken college students partying. In Duncan’s bedroom she finds Jake, her brother’s roommate. He has filled out with muscles, and looks better than he used to with a short haircut and 1960s-style hipster glasses.
Jake has been reading a book instead of mixing with the guests. He explains that he thinks Duncan is in Jake's bedroom, having sex. He has been “sexiled.” While not surprised to have been let down, Helen asks Jake to tell Duncan he’s a moron for forgetting about agreeing to dog sit. Helen learns Jake is attending the same Back Country Survival Company (BCSC) course that Helen is leaving for the next day. He explains that Duncan said Helen could give him a ride. Helen can’t believe this goofy kid is going to be on the same hiking trip as her, because it is supposed to be a spiritual journey that signifies her “bouncing back” from her divorce. Helen tells him she can’t drive him, using any excuse she can think of. However, she takes pity and gives in after he says he will have to hitchhike because he doesn’t have money for a bus ticket.
Helen comments that it’s 1,001 miles from Boston, Massachusetts to Evanston, Illinois: fifteen hours on the road, so she is up early. She drops Pickle off at the vet to be boarded while she is gone. Jake is waiting in the parking lot, saving her from having to pick him up. He suggests that they can make it to Grandma GiGi’s house—their stopover on the way to Wyoming—sooner if Helen drives over the speed limit and they pee in bottles. She appreciates his can-do attitude, but refuses to pee in bottles. He asks how life is without her “dickhead ex-husband”; Helen chokes on her coffee and her eyes go watery. Helen says he was a raging alcoholic who couldn’t manage to pull it together to save their marriage. When she miscarried at thirteen weeks pregnant and “he was nowhere to be found,” she divorced him. That was a year ago.
Jake asks about how she is doing, because he thinks it is odd for her to have signed up for such a dangerous course. He claims people die on it all the time. Helen admits she wanted a challenge, and had read an article about a one-legged war veteran finding himself by doing the BCSC course. She wants to find herself too. She concedes that the course has a reputation for being dangerous, but she “wanted crazy and unreasonable,” and wanted to amaze “everybody, including [her]self.” She isn’t the usual type of thrill-seeker the BCSC attracts: she is a first-grade teacher who’s been camping once. Helen tells Jake that she’s going to become a new, fiercer person. She claims she will receive one of the Certificates awarded to the top three participants.
Jake reads a marine biology book about whales while Helen drives her Subaru out of Boston. Helen comments on how her ex, Mike, is the reason she needs to take the trip. Not fleeing him but fleeing the person she has become in the wake of the divorce. Helen’s checklist for the course includes deepening her connection to nature, pushing herself beyond her boundaries, toughening up, rising like a phoenix, becoming awesome, kicking the wilderness’s ass, and earning a “damned Certificate.” She wants the slip of paper because it will prove she is okay. When he finishes his book, Jake compliments the smile Helen gave him earlier and says she should smile more. He says she’s the meanest big sister he’s ever met, and asks if she dislikes Duncan because of their “family tragedy.” Helen says she likes Jake and won’t talk about the family tragedy with him because she doesn’t talk about it with anyone.
Jake concedes that Duncan is a pain, but says they are friends because Duncan is the funniest person in the world. Genuinely curious, Helen begins questioning Jake about himself, learning that he has done well in college and has been accepted to medical school. This summer, he is going on the course and then heading down to Baja to pet whales. Jake surprises Helen by revealing that he isn’t going to medical school after all: he has changed as a person since applying. She realizes he is suddenly being vague and trying to change the subject. When Jake empties a bottle to urinate into it, Helen pulls over for gas and to use the bathroom. She says he is going to have to keep his pants on for the trip. He says he will, unless she commands him otherwise.
They trade off, with Helen driving 65 mph and Jake driving 90. They are so pleased with their time they high-five and accidentally hug upon arriving at GiGi’s at nine. GiGi is out at book club but has left pasta in the oven and a bottle of red wine on the table. Jake insists they take the food out to the backyard treehouse; Helen obliges. She appreciates the contrast between cool air and warm food. Helen thinks about how much time she has spent there, as GiGi took her and Duncan in when their parents couldn’t raise them. Jake admits that he had a strong crush on Helen when he met her, which was her wedding day, Duncan having brought Jake as his “date.” He holds her eyes after they cheers.
Jake later knocks on Helen’s door to play Scrabble. She asks him to put a shirt on, distracted by his naked “collegiate torso.” He puts on a Harvard shirt; Helen hadn’t realized he went there, because Duncan went to Boston College. Jake says all that time she thought he was smoking pot with Duncan, he was just doing his homework. Before they start, Jake makes a bet: the winner gets to ask the other’s help with something. If Helen wins, Jake will help her at a crucial stage sometime during the exhausting upcoming three weeks. If Jake wins, Helen has to help him learn how to kiss better, because he is terrible at it. She knows she is being baited, but she agrees. Jake wins. Despite rolling her eyes at him since he was sixteen, Helen admits to herself that he is very cute. Jake hesitates. Helen teases him about it, but knows she can’t admit that she wants him to kiss her—a sudden and total inversion of their power relationship up to that point.
Before he does, GiGi arrives home and they pull away from each other. She makes decaf coffee and tells them about her X-rated book club, of which she is the oldest member at 86. By the time they go to bed, Helen has had time to think it over, and she considers it a good thing they didn’t kiss. When Jake goes to bed in Duncan’s room, she locks her door behind her and thinks Jake is exactly where he belongs.
Analysis
The opening chapters of Happiness for Beginners introduce Helen’s central conflict while establishing several of the major themes. The themes of resentment and support arise in the first chapter when Helen arrives to drop off her dog, Pickle, with her brother, Duncan, only to discover that Duncan has forgotten his promise. In an instance of situational irony, what was supposed to be a meeting to discuss the dog’s care needs turns out to be a raging college party. Helen resents her brother for his irresponsible nature and for failing to support her when she needs help, but she comments on the situation with a cynical resignation, signaling to the reader that she is used to being disappointed.
During Helen’s conversation with Jake, her brother’s best friend, another instance of situational irony occurs: Even though Helen expects her BCSC hiking course will bring about a sense of renewal in her life, her plans are threatened by the revelation that Jake is going to be on the trip. Once again, Helen’s resentment surfaces as she laments her brother thoughtlessly recommending the course to her without saying he got the idea from Jake. She also resents Jake for wanting to tag along on her road trip, but she gives in and agrees to drive him, too kind to let him risk hitchhiking across several states.
Once on the road, Helen discovers that contrary to Jake’s claim that he will spend the drive quietly reading, Jake peppers her with probing questions about her motivations for going on such a dangerous hiking trip. In her reply, Helen reveals her major conflict: Still struggling to feel grounded following her failed marriage, Helen believes she needs to excel as a survivalist hiker in order to regain her confidence. She believes that challenging herself to do something “crazy and unreasonable” will bring about a profound emotional and psychological change. However, she sets her sights on a Certificate of Merit, hoping to achieve external validation for something that is inherently personal and something she can only decide for herself: whether she is “okay.”
Despite initially having written Jake off as just as irresponsible as her brother, Helen learns that Jake, although ten years her junior, is full of surprises. Beyond being emotionally intelligent and curious, he is a Harvard graduate who has been accepted to medical school. However, he clams up when Helen asks why he has decided not to attend med school after all. In this way, Center plants a seed in the reader’s mind, making the reader wonder what has happened that Jake refuses to talk about.
The mood of the novel shifts from comedic to romantic when Helen and Jake arrive at Helen’s grandmother’s house in Illinois. No longer annoyed with Jake, Helen can’t help but notice his attractive body and charming personality. When a game of Scrabble turns into Helen giving him a kissing lesson, Helen feigns reluctance, when in truth she longs to kiss him. However, GiGi arrives home just before they settle the bet. Helen returns to her senses, realizing that he is still the kid she has known as Duncan’s sidekick since he was sixteen. The fourth chapter ends with Helen trying to convince herself that this is the correct perception of Jake, and that he will remain in this category.
