The Pursuit of Happiness

By Brook Fuhlendorf

To Troy Maxson, in August Wilson's Fences, happiness is a concept he has difficulty explaining. He tries to explain it to his wife, Rose, in baseball terms. He explained, "Then when I saw that gal... she firmed up my backbone. And I got to thinking that if I tried... I just might be able to steal second. Do you understand after eighteen years I wanted to steal second...Rose, you're not listening to me. I'm trying my best to explain it to you. It's not easy for me to admit that I been standing in the same place for eighteen years" (Wilson 70). He was cheating on his wife. He wanted something new and exciting. He did not want to worry about all of the worries that burdened him at home. To him, happiness was getting away from it all and trying something new. He said, "It's just... She gives me a different idea... a different understanding about myself. I can step out of this house and get away from the pressures and problems... be a different man. I ain't got to wonder how I'm gonna pay the bills or get the roof fixed. I can just be a part of myself that I ain't never been... I can sit up in her house and laugh. Do you understand what I'm saying. I can laugh out loud... and it feels good. It reaches all the way down to the bottom of my shoes..." (Wilson 68-69). Happiness in Troy's eyes is forgetting about your hardships and feeling free and full of laughter. 

In our society, happiness is something different all together. Happiness is a goal that everyone is trying to reach. We all have different approaches, but this is one of our goals as human beings. Some people try to become successful in hopes of becoming happy. Others look for happiness in romantic relationships. Still more try and find it in a shopping cart. A few look in the great outdoors. Many travel to new cities or towns in search of this happiness. We all have our methods. To some, happiness is being satisfied and content with one's life. To others, it is all smiles and laughter. To a few, it is the envy of others. Though, to most of us, it is something you can't explain in words; it's a feeling. Happiness is a feeling you get when you are with certain people, enjoying certain activities, or in a certain place. Happiness is a feeling that keeps us coming back and searching for it time and time again. Happiness is not something that is over idealized because we all yearn for it. Happiness is not a right. Happiness is earned. Happiness is a destination, a feeling we are all striving for.

These two points of view are very interesting. They are similar as society believes, like Troy, that happiness and lack of worry go hand in hand. Laughter and light-heartedness may be the products of happiness, though happiness may be the product of the two. Troy's point of view and the way society perceives happiness match up on this front. Though, Troy is going about achieving his happiness in the wrong way. He is hurting others on this path. Society's point of view hopes for everyone to be happy. We are always encouraged to try and make others happy. This is where the two points of view differ. Unfortunately, society has also shown us that this ideal may never be reached. It has also revealed that, if you must choose, many will choose to make themselves happy no matter the cost to others. Thus, Troy was honest about his cruel path to happiness while society is trying to cover up it's destructive route. Society finds these means of attaining happiness as wrong. Though it encourages us to be merciless in pursuit of happiness, love, and business. At least Troy was honest in the end.