Homework Answers

Instructions: Read and annotate the following excerpts from “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” by Darrin McMahon, originally published in the New York Times, December 29, 2005.

(8) Should that be a cause for concern? Some critics say it is. For example, economists like Lord Richard Layard and Daniel Kahneman have argued that the apparent stagnancy of happiness in modern societies should prompt policymakers to shift their priorities from the creation of wealth to the creation of good feelings, from boosting gross national product to increasing gross national happiness.

Instructions: Read and annotate the following excerpts from “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” by Darrin McMahon, originally published in the New York Times, December 29, 2005.

(7) Sociologists like to point out that the percentage of those describing themselves as "happy" or "very happy" has remained virtually unchanged in Europe and the United States since such surveys were first conducted in the 1950's. And yet, this January, like last year and next, the self-help industry will pour forth books promising to make us happier than we are today. The very demand for such books is a strong indication that they aren't working.

Instructions: Read and annotate the following excerpts from “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” by Darrin McMahon, originally published in the New York Times, December 29, 2005.

(5) That shift was monumental, and its implications far reaching. Among other things, it was behind the transformation of the holiday season from a time of pious remembrance into one of unadulterated bliss. Yet the effects were greater than that. As Carlyle complained, "Every pitifulest whipster that walks within a skin has had his head filled with the notion that he is, shall be, or by all human and divine laws ought to be, 'happy.'”

(6) Carlyle was notoriously cranky, but his central insight -- that the new doctrine of happiness tended to raise expectations that could never possibly be fulfilled -- remains as relevant today as it was in 1843. Despite enjoying far better living standards and more avenues for pleasure than before, human beings are arguably no happier now than they've ever been.

Instructions: Read and annotate the following excerpts from “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” by Darrin McMahon, originally published in the New York Times, December 29, 2005.

(4) Carlyle's arithmetic was essentially sound, for changes in both religious and secular culture since the 17th century made "happiness," in the form of pleasure or good feeling, not only morally acceptable but commendable in and of itself. While many discounted religious notions that consigned life in this world to misery and sin, others discovered signs of God's providence in earthly satisfaction. The result was at once to weaken and transpose the ideal of heavenly felicity, in effect bringing it to earth. Suffering was not our natural state. Happy was the way we were meant to be.

Instructions: Read and annotate the following excerpts from “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” by Darrin McMahon, originally published in the New York Times, December 29, 2005.

(3) Like the cycle of the seasons, our emphasis on mirth may seem timeless, as though human beings have always made merry from beginning to end. But in fact this preoccupation with perpetual happiness is relatively recent. As Thomas Carlyle observed in 1843, " 'Happiness our being's end and aim' is at bottom, if we will count well, not yet two centuries old in the world."

Instructions: Read and annotate the following excerpts from “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” by Darrin McMahon, originally published in the New York Times, December 29, 2005.

(1) Tallahassee, Fla. - "HAPPY New Year!" We seldom think of those words as an order. But in some respects that is what they are.

(2) Doesn't every American want to be happy? And don't most Americans yearn, deep down, to be happy all of the time? The right laid out in our nation's Declaration of Independence -- to pursue happiness to our hearts' content -- is nowhere on better display than in the rites of the holiday season. With glad tidings and good cheer, we seek to bring one year to its natural happy conclusion, while preparing to usher in a happy new year and many happy returns.

Fahrenheit 451 & “In Pursuit of Unhappiness”

In Part One, “The Hearth and the Salamander,” Clarisse McClellan asks Montag, “Are you happy?” At first, Montag scoffs at the question, but later he comes to the realization that he is not in fact happy. What is happiness? How does one find it? Read and annotate the following article titled “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” by Darrin McMahon, originally published in the New York Times, December 29, 2005. Complete the SOAPSTone at the end of the document.