Eveline by James Joyce Essay

Happiness is a state of existence that Americans have perused since the founding of this great country. It’s such an important part of American life that “The pursuit of Happiness” is even “laid out in our nation’s Declaration of Independence” (McMahon 783). Happiness is something that may come from many aspects of life: one’s children, employment, financial wellbeing, sports, hobbies, and many other things. Ruth Whippman tells us that "Americans as a whole invest more time and money and emotional energy in the explicit pursuit of happiness than any other nation on earth". Are Americans happier today than they were three centuries ago? Does modern technology, social economic status, religious freedoms, and/or the

Some people consider freedom the meaning of the good life. Thoreau teaches that the good life is “freedom from desire.” To have a good life people must be free to make their own choices and mistakes. However, other people have a different opinion about the good life—Andrew Carnegie believes people can find the good life through success and wealth. Yet still, others want neither of these, choosing instead to stay innocent with no responsibilities like Adam and Eve, free from decisions and the stresses of everyday life. Another view is Freud’s Pleasure Principle that suggests people are interested only in fun and doing whatever they want all the time. Moreover, these people don’t want to worry about anything else.

“Happiness is in the enjoyment of man’s chief good. Two conditions of the chief good: 1st, Nothing is better than it; 2nd, it cannot be lost against the will” (Augustine 264-267). As human

Happiness is one of the great themes that makes our lives better. It’s a motivation to commit toward something to keep the feeling active. Whether it’s getting high on substances, making money, or even having enough to get by, Americans desire happiness in one form or another. Walter Mosley, author of, “Be Happy”, expresses his opinion in his article, towards who is responsible for one’s happiness. His confidence lies on believing that it’s an individual's complete obligation to be content with themselves and not anyone else’s. He suggests that the following statement, "the pursuit of happiness is an ‘unalienable right’.”, in the Declaration of Independence, claims that the government is responsible for ensuring most to all Americans’ path to happiness. I believe that the happiness of the American people, should be partly dependant upon by the individuals themselves, and by the government. It builds upon the approach a person has towards everything, but also Uncle Sam initially, pledged to attempt to satisfy the people of America.

This statement begs the questions if everyone is content with life even if they are denied all imaginable freedoms is it a utopia? Is it a life worth living if you do not get to choose your own destiny? Conditioning people to feel a certain way today is certainly wrong and we are told we have the right to the”pursuit of happiness.” is that more important than happiness?

Happiness is one of the most significant dimensions of human experience. Many people can argue that happiness is a meaningful and desirable entity. Studies indicate that everyone pursues happiness in various aspects of their life. Our four fathers saw happiness as a need, so they made the pursuit of happiness as one of the three unalienable rights branded in the Declaration of Independence. There is a sense of complexity behind the meaning of happiness; its definition is not definite. Think of happiness as a rope; there are many thin fiber strands bonded together to become the strength of the rope. Like the analogy of the rope, there are numerous factors that can contribute to an individual’s overall happiness in life. This study is going to

The philosopher Aristotle once wrote, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” This famous quote compels people to question the significance of their joy, and whether it truly represents purposeful lives they want to live. Ray Bradbury, a contemporary author, also tackles this question in his book, Fahrenheit 451, which deals heavily with society's view of happiness in the future. Through several main characters, Bradbury portrays the two branches of happiness: one as a lifeless path, heading nowhere, seeking no worry, while the other embraces pure human experience intertwined together to reveal truth and knowledge.

Our parents always told us that we should have goals and dreams in our life, and through them we will gain happiness. There are some things in life that get in the way of our dreams and goals. In the Declaration of Independence, It states that we have the right to pursue happiness. For example having everybody in the world be equal, and not be shamed upon or looked at differently due to the color of their skin. The poem ¨The Negro Mother,¨ the play A Raisin in the Sun, and the article Innocence Is Irrelevant, all show how our society and they way people can get in the way of our happiness.

In the U.S. Declaration of Independence the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental right, but what exactly is happiness? According to Webster 's happiness is defined as a mental or emotional state of well being by positive emotions ranging from contentment to joy. But if we considered happiness as a trait rather than a transient state of being, than happiness wouldn’t be considered “joyful” or even feeling content with life. Instead happiness would perhaps include a sense of hopefulness and serenity and would be looked at as more of a contributor to one’s happiness. Ed Diener is a psychologist and a professor at University of Illinois and was the first person to identify the contributing factors to happiness and speaks about it in his book Happiness. Diener explains that happiness does matter in many different ways and uses three decades of research to explain happiness, suggesting that,“There is preliminary evidence that people who score higher on the well-being scales have better social and work relationships; make more money, live longer, healthier lives, and are more contributory societal citizens”(Conkle). Happiness comes in many different forms depending on the person. Family, friends, health, peace and values can all mean something to someone 's happiness but that doesn 't necessarily mean it’s a contributing factor(Tamayo). The extent of happiness is determined on not only actions but contributions, therefore if these

Eveline's internal struggle illustrates clearly how one struggles between the past and the future, leading to the failure to escape. While weighing her options as to whether or not leave Dublin, Eveline remembers her mother's wishes: "Her promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could" (Joyce 40). Even though Eveline's home contains an abusive father, absence of family members, and the struggles of domestic work, she is unable to let go. Awaiting her a promised adventurous and free spirited life with her respectful and kind lover, Frank. He has the ability to rescue Eveline from a troubling past and allow her to enter a new phase in her life, liberated from the ugliness of Dublin. However,

The short story written by James Joyce “Eveline” is about a young lady who lives her life in a promise. The promise is to her mother, who had passed away, that no matter how bad the family became, she would always keep it together. At a significant point in Eveline’s life, she was given the opportunity to leave the family and start a family of her own. Although Eveline is miserable with her life, she runs from Frank with no love in her eyes and remembers the promise that she had made. Is it that she did the right thing in keeping her promise, or was it that she wasn’t willing to leave the life she’s ever known. Though both ideas are relevant, it is strongly apparent

Now happiness, more than anything else, seems complete without qualification. For we always choose it because of itself, never because of something else. Honor, pleasure, understanding, and every virtue

Joyce wrote “her promise to keep the home together as long as she could,” meaning that it was a struggle for her to keep her promises to her mom. Taking care of her home is a way in which Eveline was oppressed. Around the time the story took place there was a lack of women’s liberation. Women could not really do what they want when they want to, even if it means giving up on their happiness. Not only did Eveline have to keep the house together, she also had to take care of two young children. Joyce wrote “She had hard work to keep the house together and to see that the two young children who had been left to her charge went to school regularly and got their meals regularly.” Eveline was doing everything a wife’s job was around the time the story took place but she did not have a husband and younger children were not hers. She did not have no help from her father because in his mind all that she was doing was a women’s job and all he had to do is provide the money to help take care of the house.

Happiness could be seen as the goal for humanity, which is what causes the world to move forward. In each person’s unique way, they would be attempting to reach happiness, and this would cause humanity to progress. However, each person cannot know what the true form of happiness really is, and can only strive to what they think to be the ultimate idea of happiness. Different people would go about attempting to be happy in different ways, and some of these ways would be more successful than others. A person who was raised in a family with certain morals and beliefs may experience happiness by following strict rules set by the family, while another may find happiness by breaking those same rules. In the interpretation for the perfect happiness, there is diversity as to how the happiness could be achieved.

At first glance, happiness is a state of mind that many, if not all people aspire to achieve in their lifetime. What exactly is that state of mind is up for debate among the east and the west, and varies between different cultures, traditions, and religions. In the west, happiness is mostly associated with success, wealth, fame and power. In the east, happiness can be viewed as freedom from mundane occurrences such as the occupation of western powers from within a country, the end of war, poverty and famine, and liberation of the false self. In contemporary times, and with the arrival of eastern philosophy, religions, and traditions in the west, many are turning inwards and using a tool believed to have more power than an atomic bomb, the human mind. In China, India and various other Asian countries, the mind has long been a powerful tool used to liberate one from suffering, the cyclic cycle of life, as well as a means to reach enlightenment and immortality. However, the mind is only a tool, and not the way per se.