What is "Happiness"?

In the book Fences there are many different examples of what happiness means. I think each individual in the book expresses a different meaning of happiness. For example when we look at Troy we found that happiness to him is being able to be himself and just let loose and laugh like when Troy specifically says, “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. (Pause.) Rose, I can’t give that up” (Wilson 69). Troy is trying to express that this women makes him feel good about himself and that she is helping him start to understand who he really is. With Cory his happiness comes from playing football. It is something he is good at and we see when his dad messes that up for him he is upset about it when he says, “Why you wanna do that to me? That was the one chance I had” (Wilson 57). Society today really over glamorizes happiness. We watch these reality shows that brainwash us into thinking that we need to strive to have a life just like this person or that person to truly reach happiness. I think to really have happiness you need to do things so when you reflect back on them you won’t say “I wish I did things differently” but just live in the moment and experience life. I think these two versions of happiness (in the book and in life) overlap because we see Cory trying to experience life and try something different like going to college and playing football but his dad is holding him back from doing these things because Troy believes getting a job and working is something that will make him happier later on down the road.