Rachael Becker
October 7, 2016
Surprised by Joy Essay
Joy is something people long for everywhere in the world. No matter your age, gender,
culture, religion, etc., everyone wants to have a joyful life. But what is Joy? Joy is something
that can have many different, unique meanings to many different, unique people. One man,
C.S. Lewis, spent much of his life looking for an answer to this question. In his book, Surprised
by Joy, Lewis develops his thoughts on the definition of Joy that he found to be true.
Finding out what Joy meant was not an easy process for Lewis. He longed for Joy,
describing the feeling of life without constant Joy to be a “stab for joy” (Ebook pg 151). As he
grew older, Lewis felt this stab ache more and more. But, the first thing he realized in his search
