The Pursuit of Happiness A true basis of what it means to be an American can be thoroughly argued on the grounds of what constitutes an American, is an American born or is an American made. The collective identity of the American populace is the shared characteristics, the same drive, which ultimately results in oneness. The unique American cultural identity is the shared revolutionary nature, which drives Americans toward progressive social changes in the pursuit of personal happiness. The original thirteen colonies faced a rather odd situation in their nascent years. Far enough away from Britain to not completely live under their control, the colonies began to form a new way of defining themselves. Rather than simply being British colonies they wanted to act as a sovereign nation in their own right. Fearful of the colonies gaining too much power the British government implemented a set of Acts, such as the Intolerable Act and Tea Stamp Act, with the intention of them limiting the colonies freedom and smothering any chance of rebellion. However, the colonist took this as an act of oppression instead and rose above it in order to regain their personal freedoms. They felt that their society had plateaued into mediocrity under the rule of King George as they didn't have protected rights (The American Pageant, 126–133). In the hopes of ridding the colonies of the British rule war broke out, the crude colonist soldiers fighting against the well–polished British army,
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The Pursuit of Happiness illustrates through the examples of Chris Gardener's life that anyone has the opportunity to make their own pursuit of happiness if they have self–motivation and determination. Happiness is not something that can be pursued. We already have all the capacity for happiness that we need. Happiness comes from within, and from being content with oneself. People can choose to be happy or choose to be miserable. But to be happy or to be sad they need to have particular motivation or self–determination for it.
Motivation is defined as a want or need which directs towards a goal or something that someone wants. Motivation is an inherent response; it comes from inside and cannot be imposed from the outside, and comes from...show more content...
Not only did Chris have the motivation, he had an incredible attitude and was confident in himself. If not for his confidence and attitude he most likely would have never become the successful stockbroker he ended up being, much less even made it into the internship.
Chris, after falling on hard financial times his son was left homeless. Chris manipulates working a full–time unpaid internship, bringing his son to daycare, and finding a bed to sleep each night in Church. Chris and his son are not leading an easy life. One day, Chris finds some free time and decides to play basketball with his son. Where he tells his son that his dream to play basketball as an NBA player will never become true, and he can never be a good player, so he should stop playing. Yet Chris has a sudden change of heart and gives his son a speech to encourage him to always try his hardest and not let anyone shuts him down. Chris tells his son, "Don't let anybody tell you, you can't do something. Even me," "You gotta dream, you gotta protect it... Do you want something? Go get it. Period (_The Pursuit of Happiness.)"_ In first Chris decreases his son's expectancy by telling him that he wouldn't be able to play as a basketball player.
In this movie, the character of Chris is shown an extremely determined person. According to psychology, to be determined you have to let your mind make the decision that you have to get to the end. It's a goal that you have to achieve it. It's the end of your work. Get
In Pursuit of Happyness
With a terrific central performance by Will Smith, this is a well–made, sharply written and ultimately uplifting drama. "In Pursuit of Happyness" is about setting goals and achieving them. It is not about happiness, it is about money. The movie celebrates people who toil for better life by building the perfect career. Chris Gardner is convincing as a man who may have been stripped by his dignity but who still believes in himself. His strong human relationships skills lead him to achieving his goal and starting his career as a broker. "In Pursuit of Hapyness" shows very detailed what the companies are looking for in real life world – individuals with critical thinking, decision making and leadership skills,...show more content...
He has the potential to become much more if he continues to develop. When I was hired at my job, I had to go through training first which lasted two weeks, but it was all paid, even we got the mileage reimbursement. We all had to take many aptitude tests and at the end, there was an exam, which not all of us passed. It was a quite of learning process, filled with hard work and competition. But at the end when a few people were selected and offered a position, the satisfaction could not compare with anything. Destiny is not determined by skin color, socio–economic circumstances, or anything external to one's beliefs in one's dream. The only treat to Gardner success was his own potential failure of will For various personal and political reasons, not everyone wants to hear this message. But every parent wants their child to assimilate it, in the hope they will achieve happiness. . Chris Gardner's success is a result of complex of skills, set goals, and patience. He is smarter than the average; he impresses the recruiter by figuring out the Rubik's cube, he chases down and clients all over town. Undeterred the fact that he never went to college, he uses his winning combination of charm and persistence to talk his way into the
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For our Economics subject, we watched The Pursuit of Happyness, a movie based on Chris Gardner, a salesman who was not making that much money and eventually experiences homelessness with his five–year old son. He faces problems when his wife is unwilling to accept his goal to become a stockbroker and leaves him. However, he perseveres even under all this stress.
Chris Gardner excels at his stockbroker internship in Dean–Witter, earning the attention and respect from his superiors. However, his personal life plunges exponentially. He loses his money and has to resort to sleeping in homeless shelters and subway station bathrooms. He begins to think that happiness can never really be achieved, but he is proved wrong when he feels happy...show more content...
The film also teaches us that we must persevere, as shown by Gardner when he stood against all odds in order to achieve a perfect life for him and his son.
In the end, I think that The Pursuit of Happyness is a pretty inspiring film. It presents to us the struggles that many face, especially in the poorer parts of the world. It shows us that we can achieve anything as long us we put our minds to it. It is an eye–opener that tells us we should do the best in everything we do. After all, we are the masters of our own lives, in a final analysis. For our Economics subject, we watched The Pursuit of Happyness, a movie based on Chris Gardner, a salesman who was not making that much money and eventually experiences homelessness with his five–year old son. He faces problems when his wife is unwilling to accept his goal to become a stockbroker and leaves him. However, he perseveres even under all this stress.
Chris Gardner excels at his stockbroker internship in Dean–Witter, earning the attention and respect from his superiors. However, his personal life plunges exponentially. He loses his money and has to resort to sleeping in homeless shelters and subway station bathrooms. He begins to think that happiness can never really be achieved, but he is proved wrong when he feels happy for the first time in the longest time after he lands a job in Dean Witter.
This film has showed me that we all should aim high. Gardner started out as a lowly
Social stereotypes and Happiness
The Pursuit of Happyness
11/21/2012
Instructor: Prof. Kristin Little
Author: Tareq Naseer Alsamarh
Social stereotypes and happiness
The story of the movie The Pursuit of Happyness directed by Gabriele Muccino portrays a family who struggles with finding enough money to pay taxes and afford living expenses. The movie takes a place in San Francisco during the 80s. The two main characters are the father Chris Gardner and his son Christopher, Will Smith and Jaden Smith respectively. Gardner tries to support his family. But every time he attempts to make things better, they always end up worse. Gardner in the story wonders on "how to be happy?" He earns his money by selling the bone density ...show more content...
In another perspective, fatherhood for Gardner is like a job for him. Because he loses his wife, he needs to provide joy, fun and help for his son Christopher which is not an easy job to do. Those fathers, who spend more time with their children, have a better life than others who spend most of their time working and gaining money. However, being a father as a single parent like Chris gives him the enthusiasm to do his best and replace his wife's role to have a better life with his son. Yet, this decreases the happiness that Gardner possesses. According to Scott Coltrane, a sociologist at the University of California, points out that "Father's style of parenting has changed too. Fathers are beginning to look more like mothers" (qtd. in Cullen and Grossman). Before Linda leaves the family, she works double shifts to make more money to afford the living expenses and to help her husband. So Chris is the one who takes more care of their son than the mother, Linda. Gardner seems to be happier being close to his son. There are many scenes in the movie that show how Gardner and Christopher are happy of being together. Nonetheless, there is only one scene that Christopher not even misses his mother; instead he asks "did mom leave because of me?" (The Pursuit of
Happyness). This indicates that Gardner does a great job of being a single parent that makes his son, not remembering his mother. For fathers, home
