Happiness

In the playwright I think for Rose her happiness is keeping her family together and seeing everything that’s going on with Cory wanting to play football and Troy ruining that for him and Gabriel getting arrested I think she feels like she has that responsibility of keeping her family together and everything running mostly. Troy proves financially to keep a roof over their heads but Rose is the one who makes it feel like a home. For Troy I think happiness for him is being able to be himself and not have to worry so much because he’s been worrying all his life. “Met your mama.  I was young and anxious to be a man. Met your mama and had you. What I do that for? Now I got to worry about feeding you and her. Got to steal three times as much”. I think all his worries started to pile on when he faced the responsibilities of providing for his family and so after so many years I think he started to become claustrophobic and his happiness started to fade and it continued to fade throughout the many years hence why he cheated he wanted to feel some freedom and free of responsibilities and he wanted an outlet which is a little contradicting because now he’s going to have even more responsibility. But I think for Troy it’s all about moments and those moments is what defines he’s happiness.

In society happiness is a must. You have to be happy. I think it’s so glamorized that people start to hide behind smiles and laughs. Society is more worried about seeing you happy then trying to help you resolved your issues for you to be happy. Society is all about putting labels on people, and god forbid you anything other than happy, you’re suddenly put into a different category. I feel that the word depressed or not happy is looked for bad upon that people try to run away from their true feelings.  They try to make themselves feel something they’re not so I think that the way happiness is portrayed in our society is not realistic. Everyone has gotten to a point in their lives where they’re not happy and so finding that happiness again is tough. And that’s where decision come into play, in the playwright Troy cheating because he wanted to feel happy and free. Society presents happiness to be that you have to go and find it in other places, when really it already lies within us we just have to find it within ourselves.

What Makes a Man a Man

In Troy’s society they expect for a man to provide for his family, they expect a man to be a strong and carry the weight of his family, they expect for a man to carry a lot of responsibility. In the scene 3 Troy explain how it’s his responsibility and his job to care for his family, in his society a man has to take care of his family and it’s really important that a man has a job and is able to support his family and as a breadwinner of his family there also comes the importance of making sure his sons have a good future. And as their father we wants them to not end up like him, he wants his oldest son to get a job and be able to provide for himself, he wants his other son to get a real job not one that’s going to potentially sit him out every game. As a man it’s his responsibility that he leads his sons in the right direction and that means through tough love because as we all read he doesn’t have to like his sons, but it’s his responsibility to care for him so instead babying him he explains to him to as a man he must do this for his family.

This generation is a lot different than Troy’s generation whereas men got married and started a family and where able to provide for their family. I think that times have changed, and our standards for men changed because our standards for women changed. Instead of just a man providing for their families it becomes both individuals making the same effort. As for Troy I think he wouldn’t live up to it because he has such a strong view that men must do this and women must do that and that’s just the way he grew up, women do housework and care for the children and he goes out to work and provides for his family financially.