Tuesday, May 12, 2015

What Makes Troy Happy?

In the book Fences, the overlapping theme of happiness is doing what your heart desires. For example for Troy it’s being able to live with no responsibilities and not worrying about paying the bills or fixing the roof. As Troy said “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” (Wilson 69). As Troy goes on he’s talking about being in the same spot as in “first base” because he has to always worry about his family and working hard to get the money to pay the necessities. Another thing he says that Is happiness for him is not going back to the old him when he was in penitentiary or with a bottle of wine in his hand while passed out in the middle of the street. Given that perception of happiness back then, today’s happiness is very over glamorized. Looking at every commercial that is on TV the actors are all living a good life smiling about the newest product they bought.Like if your going to eat a bowl of cereal in the morning chances are your not going to be that happy these commercials aren't the accurate portrayal of real life. Given that happiness is “easier” to get and is everywhere. Happiness now is not a right but its something you can work hard because happiness is even in our Declaration of Independence. Looking at both these time periods we can see many similarities and differences of happiness. I believe that back then and now, happiness differ from the periods of time. Back then happiness was more towards family as in your son and wife and being able to provide for them. While for today’s happiness is more towards materialistic possessions and that is what can make you happy. 

2 comments:

  1. I agree with your statement that happiness is over glamorized. I liked how you said "if you're going to eat a bowl of cereal in the morning chances are you're not going to be that happy". Society tries to make everything seem like it's the best thing ever, even when it's something as small as a cereal commercial. True happiness depends on the person and is often more important than anything seen on TV.

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  2. I agree on your views about Troy's happiness and how the play focuses on happiness being based on what the heart wants. You bring up good points about how Troy wants less responsibility in his life but when you start to compare it to society now I had to oppose your connection to the play. When you said that the time period of the play valued family I thought you were wrong. This is because in the play it is apparent that there are many broken families and Troy's may become one of these. It is apparent when Rose says, "My whole family is half. Everybody got different fathers and mothers" (Wilson 68). This shows that all of Rose's family is separated which goes against the views of the time period in your eyes. Other than that I agree with your remarks and share similar views.

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