Happiness Falls

Mia Parkson is the first-person narrator of Happiness Falls. She is prone to being sidetracked—though these “tangents can end up being important and/or fun” (4)—careful to avoid optimism, and intelligent. A computer music major with perfect pitch, Mia wrote her college honor’s thesis on “Philosophy of Music and Algorithmic Programming: Locke, Bach, and K-pop vs. Prokofiev, Sartre, and Jazz Rap” (4). Physically, Mia describes herself in opposition to her twin brother: She “got the angular leftovers—Dad’s Roman nose and thick unibrow, Mom’s narrow-set eyes” (36); her hair is “straight, sassy black with a blue sheen” (36). Mia believes she looks “more Korean” than John, which contributed to the negative treatment she received while the family lived in Korea, when people expected her to be able to speak the language.

Mia is the most complex character in the novel, and the only one who progresses through a significant arc. First, she becomes more open and communicative. Early conflicts in Happiness Falls come from Mia’s refusal to share: She has not told her family she’s changed her major or about a six-month relationship with Vic, and she’s broken up with Vic in part because of her reluctance to communicate openly during the pandemic quarantine.