The next piece subject to assessment is Carlin Flora’s “The Pursuit of Happiness”. Her article’s thesis is reminiscent of Roko Belic’s in “Happy” where she proclaims that “if you aren’t living to your values, you won’t be happy, no matter how much you are achieving” (Flora 1). The key difference between Flora’s thesis and Belic’s, however, is that she provide her interpretation of “living to your values” as a direct message, which conveys her argument far more effectively. She also builds her piece on the basis that Americans are trying too hard to be happy, and as a result a sadness is flowing through. Flora’s other resemblance to Belic’s “Happy” is her target audience of Americans, and likewise her rhetorical strategies and evidence depict …show more content…
For instance, Flora borrows psychology professor Barbara Held’s ideals to solidify her claim on being happy naturally: “Looking on the bright side isn’t possible for some people, and is often counter productive” (Flora 1). Using Held as evidence counts as an ethos appeal, granting the reader some assuredness that an expert of the subject agrees with the author’s own assessment and claims. Because Held is a professor on the subject, it removes some element of doubt on Flora’s part on whether she is merely musing on the subject. Elsewhere in her piece, Flora uses prolepsis to support her claim of “getting what you want doesn’t bring lasting happiness” where she says immediately addresses the following perception: “you think happiness happiness would arrive if you were to win the lottery or would forever fade away if your home were destroyed in a flood. But human beings are remarkably adaptable” (Flora 3). Flora uses this particular perception as a foundation for her counter, where she claims that these moments do not permanently affect your happiness. In her counter, she furthers her credibility by yet again using an authoritative figure: Professor of psychology Sonja Lyubomirsky of University of California, Riverside (Flora 3). By balancing these two particular rhetorical strategies, Flora provides a different perspective on those “moments”
In regards to her pathos persuasions she uses detailed and emotion-packed quotes in order to provoke her audience’s emotions. When it comes to her ethos persuasions, she uses them intermittently throughout her article by referencing her job title as an instructor and clearly establishing her themes and goals of the article in order to create a credible and dependable persona for her audience. Last but surely not least, Ellen Roses utilizes logos persuasions in order to influence her readers in a way that they understand her writing and logically believe what she is
The struggle between happiness and society shows a society where true happiness has been forfeited to form a perfect order.
Sharon Begley, author of “Happiness: Enough Already,” proclaims that dejection is not an unacceptable state of mind and there are experts that endorses gloomy feelings. This reading explicates that even though every-one should be happy there is no need to ignore sadness, as both emotions share key parts in everyone’s life. Sharon Begley and her team of specialists provides the information on why sadness is supplemental to a person’s life.
People may believe it is relatively easy to predict what would make them happiest in certain circumstances. It should be a simple task given that one spends their whole life learning what makes them happy. However, in the essay, “Immune to Reality,” Daniel Gilbert demonstrates that people often fail to correctly predict one’s own happiness. Daniel Gilbert gives various examples expressing when people make incorrect predictions about their life and how that affects their knowledge, understanding, and behaviors. That is because the unconscious mind picks up factors that influence a person’s happiness, knowledge, and understanding. These influences cause the human mind to quickly produce inaccurate reasons for why they do what they do.
Each character in the novel has their own interpretation of the ‘American Dream – the pursuit of happiness’ as they all lack happiness due to the careless nature of American society during the Jazz Age. The American Dreams seems almost non-existent to those whom haven’t already achieved it.
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
In Margaret Atwood’s short story, “Happy Endings,” the central theme of fiction provides several different kinds of marriages and relationships that ultimately result in the same ending. The “Happy Endings” shows that it’s difficult to have complete control over day-to-day events. No matter how hard society tries to achieve the perfect life, it does not always go as planned. It doesn’t matter if the characters are bored and depressed, confused and guilty, or virtuous and lucky; the gradual path of version A is not always in reach.
In the book, The How of Happiness, author and researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky sets her book apart from other self-awareness books by being the first to utilize empirical studies. She uses data gained through scientific method to provide support for her hypothesis. This hypothesis consists mainly of the idea that we have the ability to overcome genetic predisposition and circumstantial barriers to happiness by how we think and what we do. She emphasizes that being happier benefits ourselves, our family and our community. “The How of Happiness is science, and the happiness-increasing strategies that [she] and other social psychologists have developed are its key supporting players” (3).
Happiness for Sale -. Is happiness for sale? It is true that with enough money, one can enjoy everything luxurious, and live a life of comfort and security. A little more money makes us a little happier. However, happiness involves more than financial fitness; it encompasses emotional fulfillment as well, thus there are various ways to pursue happiness. In “Immune to Reality”, Daniel Gilbert examines the operation of the “psychological immune system,” which protects us when we suffer wrenching setbacks but not when we try to cope with minor ones, imparting a surprising complacency in the face of significant blows but often leaving us quite helpless when we deal with trivial irritations.
It was wonderful to have money to be able to pay cash for a car…I really wanted a big expensive luxury car, but because of Cheryl, I bought a little Datsun, which I never did like very much, not after that Radcliff automobiles” (p 144). Good health is also a factor that constitutes to happiness but not to meaningfulness. Healthy people are happier than sick people, but the lives of sick people do not lack meaning. The more often people feel good, the happier they are. Being happy results in good and/or high self-esteem.
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).
Prager, D. (1997). Happiness is a serious problem: A human nature repair manual. NY: HarperCollins Publishers
Bowman, James. "The Pursuit of Happiness." The American Spectator. N.p., Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
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