Two texts which Allie, the main character and narrator, is reading during the story underpin Happiness Seeker.
One is the play A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller, a tragedy. Allie starts to notice the parallels between the characters and plot of the play with the all-too-real drama which starts to unfold in her own life that week.
The other is the famous poem, originally part of a sermon by John Donne, No Man is an Island. One of the epilogues of Happiness Story is taken from this poem:
…any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
​
Also, Allie has recently been studying the poem at school; she talks about it with Mareno and the main principle of the poem helps guide her actions at two crucial points – see if you can spot where.