Happiness is defined as a state of being lucky or having great pleasure or joy. Aristotle said that happiness was the final goal of all human behavior. Clover is a story about different characters trying to find happiness while functioning in a very controled world. Dispite the terrible obsticles in their way, each person finds a moment of happiness to cherish.

Happiness is having someone who cares for you. Suu can't be happy in her cage because she is alone and has no one with whom to interact. She has no idea of what happiness really is until she hears Oruha's song. Oruha finds happiness with Kazuhiko and later with her brief relationship with Suu. Gingetsu and Lan find happiness together because of their strong emotional bond.

Happiness comes with a cost. Suu is able to find happiness only for a moment before she dies. Oruha had a hard life because she knew that no matter who or what she loved, she would die and loose it. She finally was able to love Kazuhiko because she was willing to suffer the conscicous of doing so. She suffered a little every time he talked about their future. Gingetsu put a devise in his head so that he and Lan could stay together and Lan promised C that he would never love anyone as much as him. Lan also sacrificed a long life inside his cage for a short life with Gingetsu.

Happiness can't be forced on someone. Suu was surrounded by beauty and comfort in her cage, but that wasn't what she needed to be happy. A could not make C happy by dominating him. C had to live his own life, and that meant living without A.

So what is happiness? Happiness is a feeling so precious that it is worth suffering and even dying for as all the main characters in Clover discover. Each person finds something that makes them happy even if they know that it can't last forever, just as a clover wilts and fades eventually.