Happiness can only be achieved when one is truthful with themselves. Being truthful to oneself can be difficult, especially when the people around you have unrealistic expectations. There is a fine line between making a decision for yourself and making a decision to meet the idealistic standards that people expect you to meet. In “Home Place”, Guy Vanderhaughes’s short story, it implies that Gil places pressure upon his son, Ronald, to go into farming instead of following his dreams of becoming a pilot. In response, Ronald compromises his own happiness to please his father. Idealistic expectations are a preventative to experiencing genuine contentment. The expectations of an authority figure can cloud the decision-making process of the recipient. We can see this …show more content…
Ronald marrying Darlene and being able to discard his passion so easily illustrates how the expectations of his father overshadow his own ambitions and desires. Ronald’s decision displays the dynamic in him and his fathers relationship, in which Ronald feels immense pressure to prioritize what his father envisioned for him. Later in the excerpt we are able to see how despondent Ronald is in his marriage to Darlene, going back to his childhood bedroom that “...was almost exactly as he had left it when he chose Darlene.” Ronald’s return to his childhood room reflects how he regrets his decision to discard his aspirations to achieve what his father sought out for him. Ronald internally struggles with being able to balance his aspirations for planes, while also trying to uphold Gil’s unrealistic expectations of inheriting the family farm. This highlights the fragility of being able to balance personal satisfaction and familial obligations. According to my personal experience over the course of my life, the pressure to conform to societal standards and societal expectations is monumental in a young girl's
William James once said that “Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action." Everyone living in a society we live in today are putting in efforts to obtain happiness. Many individuals will pursue that happiness while others will compromise it. To achieve happiness, everyone has their own methods, but sometimes it will not work, when you realize you can’t always have what you want. In the text To Kill A Mockingbird and the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet, Harper Lee and Shakespeare developed the idea that every individual pursue or compromise happiness differently because we have different beliefs and values that shapes our identities. Compromise can seem like a negative thing, but in some situations it is crucial to happiness. It is not possible to always everything you want in life but the desire of pursuing happiness provide individuals with more satisfaction than compromising happiness.
In contrast to Aristotle, Roko Belic’s documentary “Happy” provides a fresh perspective that takes place far more recently. The film sets out to similar goals of Aristotle in defining the nature of happiness and exploring what makes different people happy in general. Unlike Aristotle, however, the film’s main argument refers to makes people happier. In this case, the film argues that merely “doing what you love” is what leads to happiness (Belic). The argument itself appears oddly self-serving, considering that message is what underlines the foundation of happiness, yet there is a subliminal message that a simpler lifestyle is what leads to what the film is trying to convince you of. The message itself is obviously addressed to Americans, considering
Happiness, the state of being happy; it is a part of natural human emotion. Happiness is sought out by everyone, as it is one of the most fundamental values of life. It can be as small as going back home after school or as big as winning a lottery. My personal definition of happiness is the simplest things such as spending time with my friends, getting a little break in between studying, listening to my favorite songs, or getting a good mark on a quiz or a test. Similarly, the individuals in the texts had pursued or wanted to pursue happiness through simplest things in life. In the poem “Swing Valley” the writer is reminiscing about the time when him and his friends experienced joy by carelessly swinging on a rope enjoying the momentary release from the gravity. Secondly, the individual from the short story “Home Place” by Guy Vanderhaeghe, also reminisces about his happiness he pursued in his youth and
Happiness is a reprise from the many trials and turmoil of life, and so it is natural that we should actively seek it. Ironically though, in our naïve belief that we can somehow augment the amount of happiness in our world, we are actually making our world more depressing to live in. Both John F. Schumaker, in The Happiness Conspiracy, and Ray Bradbury, in Fahrenheit 451, argue that our myopic pursuit of happiness is actually counterproductive. The two authors attempt to persuade the reader that happiness is, and should be, an almost-serendipitous byproduct of a truly fulfilling life, and therefore should not be an explicit objective.
Dale Carnegie once expressed, “Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.” Analyzing this quote, it is crucial to note the underlining theme that happiness, true and genuine happiness, requires a shifting away from conformity and the status quo in order to discover the treasure found in one’s own self. Therefore, finding out who one’s self is mandates a state of solitude which acts like the green pastures by the still waters that restores the soul. However, with its roaring and hungry fire that sends up flutters of red and yellow and orange and white fireflies soaring into the carnivorous night, conflict is the key ingredient in shifting away from acquiescence and society’s present state of affairs.
In The Twilight Zone’s “Number 12 Looks Just Like You” and Aldous Huxley's “Brave New World” it is apparent that happiness comes from stability and the ability to get what one wants with little effort, however, the price for this happiness is a loss of individuality and strong emotions, making ignorance truly bliss.
Happiness plays an important and necessary role in the lives of people around the world. In America, happiness has been engrained in our national consciousness since Thomas Jefferson penned these famous words in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson). Since then, Americans have been engaged in that act: pursuing happiness. The problem however, as Ray Bradbury demonstrates in his novel Fahrenheit 451, is that those things which make us happy initially may eventually lead to our downfall. By examining Guy Montag, the protagonist in Fahrenheit 451, and the world he lives in we can gain valuable insights to direct us in our own pursuit of happiness. From Montag and other characters we will learn how physical, emotional, and spiritual happiness can drastically affect our lives. We must ask ourselves what our lives, words, and actions are worth. We should hope that our words are not meaningless, “as wind in dried grass” (Eliot).
Though everyone has their own definition of happiness and how it may be achieved, many still fall victim to society’s overwhelming standards and high expectations of how one should live. Throughout life, many that seek power may claim to have the answers one yearns for in order to gain the trust and loyalty they need to rule. However, by letting the ideas of the superior classes in society influence the course of actions one takes to achieve happiness, one automatically forfeits their natural right for the pursuit of happiness because how some may view happiness is not necessarily what one may want out of life. Various authors have portrayed this sense of absolute power through their writing as a way to bring awareness about the lack of control readers have in their own lives. Such may originate in the little control many have in their own lives due to them desperately giving their free-will to those that promise happiness.
Freedom from social obligations and constraints may seem appealing at first glance because an individual is free to act according to his or her own rules and ignore other rules of conduct (Haidt 133). Inconsequently, this freedom from society may encourage people to abandon their jobs, homes, and marriages in search of personal fulfillment and satisfaction (Haidt 133). Haidt argues that leaving these responsibilities is counterintuitive to pursuing happiness because these social obligations provide people a stable base of relationships to build upon. Cutting connections with one’s family and community will bring an individual further from experiencing happiness in one’s life; however, fostering relationships within one’s social circles will provide a sense of belonging and purpose in an individual’s
Nora and Torvald lack one of the key elements needed to make a marriage work. Good communication allows you to better understand your partners needs and to unite as a team to solve problems or comply. When Torvald got sick and the only thing to save his life was to move to the south; Nora found a way to procure the money and forged her father’s signature to obtain the loan. The most heroic action of her life is an unforgivable crime in the eyes of society. Nora has kept this a secret from Torvald. “A man who has such strong opinions about these things! And besides, how painfully and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now.”(12) To pay back the loan, Nora has worked without her husband’s consent, staying up late nights copying, to earn money and saving a bit from what Torvald gives her. “Whenever Torvald has given me money for new dresses and such things I have never spent more than half of it; I have always bought the simplest and cheapest things.”(13) Without trust, honesty can never be obtained. There was poor communication throughout their entire marriage and only at the end, after eight years of being married d...
How does one pursue happiness when all seems lost? The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood shows us through her character Offred how pursuing a meaningful life can allow people to gain happiness and grow as a person through choice, hope, trust and maintaining individual identity. Determining how to pursue or give up happiness lies in the perspective of what the individual understands happiness to be. Individuals can pursue happiness by either disregarding the standards set by society or by making well-informed decisions based on those standards because true happiness lies within ourselves; when we let others dictate our lives we lose the opportunity of choice and give power to those who may not have our best interests in mind. Pursuing happiness
Bowman, James. "The Pursuit of Happiness." The American Spectator. N.p., Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Contrary to belief, genuine happiness is very rarely found at the bottom of a shopping basket or on the leather seats of a brand new car. Often we hear the cliché saying “Money can’t buy happiness” but this is in fact true. Whilst the elation and delight brought from finally owning a wanted item is extraordinary, you must remind yourself that your happiness should not become dependant upon your ownership of this item. Being happy is not something you can purchase from a shop or car dealership, it is the way you take on life. Unfortunately, happiness does not have its own aisle at shops and never will.
These two elements alone are reality for most married couples, so a lot of readers can relate to the conflict between the main characters. Another element of realism that we see is Nora putting on an act for her friend Mrs. Linde. When Mrs. Linde starts asking about Nora's life, she goes on about how great and happy she is. We later find out that she is not satisfied in her marriage.
Throughout history, philosophers and scientists of various kinds have been trying to define happiness, identify its causes and the obstacles to reaching it. According to Jon Gertner, psychologist Gilbert and economist Loewenstein have succeeded in pointing out several reasons why people are unhappy (pp: 444-6). It is important to note that according to Gilbert, it is not that people cannot g...