Write the explanation of the essay entitled "The Road To Happiness

Write the explanation of the essay entitled “The Road To Happiness”. (Part-2)

Ans.

Explanations

(7) It is heartrending to watch mothers teaching her children to curb their joy of life and become sedate puppets, lest they should be thought to belong to a lower social class than that to which their parents aspire.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, “The Road to Happiness’ written by Bertrand Russell. Both men and women show different behaviour when they wish to be respected by neighbours and also the fear of being hated by them.

Explanation: The writer feels sorry for a common social practice indulged in by the parents who are very eager to preserve their social prestige. Its reason is that they are restricted in an undue manner in relation to their children. The natural growth of such children is stopped by imposing some adult restrictions on them. The writer further says that their natural development is stopped very badly. They are confined because of egoistic and selfish manners and social customs. They are treated so cruelly that their vitality becomes lowest. On account of such cruel treatment of the parents, their children become lifeless. They also forget their happy and laughing nature. Their such condition becomes lowest in an automatic manner. It is the result of the false. “correct style of their conduct.” The writer calls it a very unfortunate and bad situation. In other words it is only to satisfy the strange and cruel whims of the parents. The aspirations of the parents are to be satisfied in order to make them happy in their life. In this way the happiness of the children is also neglected which is their legal and human right and the children cannot get real happiness in their life. Such a state is certainly very cruel and unlucky both for the children as well as to the society in which they live. The parents ignore their such necessary and useful behaviour towards their children as well as for the welfare of the society in which they and their children live together.

(8) You may be rich and admired, but if you have no friends, no interests, no spontaneous useless pleasures, you will be miserable. Living for social success is one form of living by a theory and all living by theory is dusty and desiccating.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, ‘The Road to Happiness’ written by Bertrand Russell. The writer describes the secret and importance of happiness in the life of all men and women.

Explanation: According to the writer, there are some necessary conditions to be happy in life. If such conditions are neglected, happiness may not be possible. Some people think that rich people are happy in their life but it is not always right. A person may be rich, he may be famous, or he may be admired but he shall not be happy in his real life.

The writer asserts that to be really happy, he should have some friends, some interest in creative things and natural pleasures in a real manner. A man shall be happy in the company of his friends even if he is not rich. It is the basis of real joy and satisfaction. In this way his interest in different things and natural pleasures make him happy. He does not need any extra efforts to be happy in his life because happiness becomes the part of his nature.

The man who does not have some friends, his real interest and pleasures, he will remain unhappy in spite of his riches. Some people follow a set theory in their life by which they want to be happy. They live for social success and they want to be famous but not happiness which is the inner feeling of joy. Success and failure are outward but happiness comes from within, so living by theory is useless and without any real pleasure.

(9) If the family has become steadily hateful, or the work uniformly irks me, they can no longer bring happiness; but it is worthwhile to endure occasional hatefulness or irksomeness if they are not felt continually. And they are much less likely to be felt continually if advantage is taken of opportunities for play.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, The Road to Happiness’ written by Bertrand Russell. The writer describes the secret of true happiness in real life.

Explanation: The writer says that health and food are necessary for happiness. Two other things are also necessary. The first is stable frame work with the family and the other is play. Sometimes there are differences in the family and also in the office. Such atmosphere is hateful for that man who fails to get happiness in his life.

In some other cases the situation changes giving some respite for sometime. The writer advises that the man should endure occasional hatred in the family. He should also try to bear any such trouble and tiredness in his work or in his office. When he gets free time, he should take part in playing some game for his enjoyment. He should try his best to make use of every such opportunity of taking part in any game for his happiness as well as to give up his tension. By such play the mind becomes calm and the man may get happiness in a real manner. It is the manner for real happiness for a man.

(10) Perhaps those who have been rendered unhappy by a bad theory may need a better theory to help them to recovery, just as you may need a tonic when you have been ill. But when things are normal, a man should be healthy without a tonic and happy without a theory.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, ‘The Road to Happiness’ written by Bertrand Russell. According to the writer it is not necessary to follow a very high philosophy to get happiness in his life.

Explanation: The writer asserts that a man does not need to follow a high philosophy when he wants to get happiness in his life. It is wrong to think that a man cannot remain happy without a particular theory of life or religion. On the other hand, he can be happy even without such theory because he can be happy by living his normal life. Then he can get happiness by making use of simple things. Sometimes a man becomes unhappy by following a wrong theory in his life. A good theory is needed to live normal life and become happy under normal ideas.

A good theory is necessary for a normal man to get happiness in his life. The writer compares him to a recovering patient who is in need of a tonic for his complete recovery after his freedom from sickness. In short an unhappy man needs a good theory like a tonic to help the patient in order to regain his health. If a man is normal in his body and mind, he does not need any theory, or good ideas to get happiness. He needs only a special theory of life to get true happiness by his own normal condition of his life.

(11) It is the simple things that really matter. If a man delights in his wife and children, has success in work and finds pleasure in the alternation of day and night, spring and autumn, he will be happy whatever his philosophy may be.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay. “The Road to Happiness’ written by Bertrand Russell. To get true happiness a real theory is necessary like a tonic for a patient after his illness.

Explanation: According to the writer, even simple things are very necessary for that man who wants happiness in his life. It is a real and important tip by him for that man who wants to get real happiness in his life. Such a man should feel happy in the company of his wife and children. He should not remain serious with his long face to get real happiness. A wrong theory is not helpful in the way of true happiness. A bad theory and a serious philosophy do not help him in getting happiness. For this he should be healthy and he should be properly fed for necessary happiness. In short, a stable family life and satisfaction from his job are very necessary to help him in getting true happiness. He should get real interest in simple things of his life. In short variety in interests is also much needed by him to get true. happiness in his life.

(12) Man is an animal. and his happiness depends upon his physiology more than he likes to think. This is a humble conclusion, but I cannot make myself disbelieve it. Unhappy businessmen, I am convinced, would increase their happiness more by walking six miles every day than by any conceivable change of philosophy.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, ‘The Road to Happiness’ written by Bertrand Russell. The writer shows the need of good theory in life to achieve true happiness.

Explanation: The writer describes the secret of true happiness in his life. According to him, true happiness is not related to any philosophy of life, so a man should not follow any particular theory of life to become happy. It is the truth of life that man is also an animal and his body is like that of other animals. With this reason we cannot ignore our physical needs, so his physical needs should be fulfilled for the sake of his real happiness. Then he will get early satisfaction because he cannot be happy if he is not satisfied.

The writer gives the example of a businessman who remains unhappy though he has enough to eat and drink in order to live a comfortable life. If he is still unhappy, it may be with some other reason. The writer advises him for walking six miles everyday in the morning to remove his mental tension. He should not make any other change in his philosophy of life. His normal physical life will give him mental rest and he will also get real happiness in his life with a little change in his philosophy.