The Pursuit of Happiness
In the article "Is Everybody Happy?" written by John Ciardi, the author sorts through different possibilities of what constitutes a happy man. He neither agrees with the American outlook of buying your way to happiness, nor does he agree with the "holy man of India's" ideal of spiritual extreme as a means for happiness. The author believes that becoming a better person or overcoming challenges is the root to partial happiness. In the third paragraph the author discussed causes for unhappiness. "Forces of American commercialism are hugely dedicated to making us deliberately unhappy." He explains that the ad
The author goes on explaining that it is the effort itself, the difficulty in the game which makes the game fun. In conclusion, I definitely support the author's viewpoint on happiness, since I find that materialistic value never satiates man. He eats only if food is brought to him. Overcoming moral conflicts and ordinary life challenges, which in reality are what spiritualism preaches, are the true sources of happiness. The author also writes about the fiction in advertisement as he quotes Bernard DeVoto: "Advertising begins as poetry in the front pages and ends as pharmacopoeia and therapy in the back pages. vertising industry, a major force in American society, forces man to want more and need more. It brings the person to the realization that he has only a small percentage of what is really available. " He disconnects himself from the physical world. There is always more to acquire and more capital needed, while completely disconnecting oneself from all physical needs is in reality a form of torture. The author concludes that he does not believe in Puritanism or asceticism as means of obtaining happiness. " He further describes how magazines attempt to persuade their readers of the possibility and dream of perfect beauty by the pictures and articles displayed in the front while the advertisements in the back display the drugs and therapy need to obtain such beauty. He terms it "an illusion" and even stronger, that such a life is a life of torture to any Western man. It is the overcoming challenge that brings partial happiness. It forces man to spend outrageously above his budget at an enormous pace. 2 The author then explores opposite extreme as a means to obtaining happiness.
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