Taylor Shaw

August 26, 2009

AIM English Per 5 Grey

Response to �The Euphio Question� by K. Vonnegut, Jr.

Happiness comes in many shapes and sizes. To some, happiness is found in
material wealth: buying the next generation iPhone, going on an expensive shopping
spree, or boasting about how much money is in his or her savings account. Other
people find joy in an intangible form: laughter, the essence of friendship, or
faith. In this short story, Doctor Bockman discovers a source of artificial
happiness and creates an invention that amplifies the feeling. When testing the
machine on himself and a few fellow friends, things go incredibly wrong and
feelings of false happiness and materialism arise in the group. The invention, or
the euphoriaphone, symbolizes our lives and how strongly we are influenced by
materialism.
Materialism can consume any kind of person; the happy, the sad, the wealthy,
or the poor. Lew Harrison, for example, is a simple man who is a radio announcer
in a small town and doesn�t have much. He isn�t married, his job doesn�t pay well,
and he isn�t satisfied with his life. When he brings up the idea of selling the
euphio energy, materialism and greed clouds his eyes and he doesn�t realize the
kind of danger the euphio causes. This shows that minds that are open to new ideas
involving large sums of money can become easily corrupt and selfish. ��You can
give them the most precious thing in al creation-happiness (Vonnegut 248).� Lew
says this to Doctor Bockman, the inventor of the euphoriaphone, who immediately
likes the idea of being rich and famous. However, once he realizes how dangerous
the machine is, he decides to destroy the machine and pursue happiness the old
fashion way. The glamour and glitz of fame and fortune did not sway Bockman�s
decision as he crashed down on the euphio, breaking the connection with the
artificial joy. Therefore, any mind can become cluttered with desires of expensive
objects or money but it takes a strong mind to look the other way and satisfy
himself with the pursuit of real happiness.
Many people say they are happy if they have their hands on something shiny
and new. This joy is an illusion created by technology and marketers who target
the weak minded with promises of happiness within an �irresistible� product.
�Contract happiness like you contract influenza (Vonnegut 253).� This quote from
Dr. Bockman trys to say is that if people purchase the energy of the euphio they
could become sick because the euphio tweaks people�s minds into thinking nothing
is wrong. In a sense, this is like materialism. Materialistic people believe that
if they are happy and have something new or anything better than the average
human, nothing is wrong. For example, the iTouch, Apple claims, is the next best
thing in MP3 or MP4 players. This is an example of many tricks used by marketing
companies to con people into spending large amounts of capital on something they
don�t need as much as food or water. People that are able to look past these ploys
know what real happiness is. When the euphio is destroyed, it proves that people
would rather suffer naturally and reach a happy ending for a small amount of time
than be happy all the time. The sooner we realize what really makes us happy, the
easier it will be to accept our lives as they are and thank God for what we have.
The euphoriaphone exposed people to an energy of false happiness in space
that causes them to lose connection with their thinking process, like materialism.
With materialism, if we are overexposed to new things we crave these things and
forget what really matters. Although it may seem grand and glorious to have the
latest tech-toy, will it really make people happy? Real joy comes from who we are
around and how we look at things. If we think positively and surround ourselves
with happy people, we gain that good example and figure out how to be content with
our lives the way they are. Instead of wishing and wanting, we should count our
blessings and then we will understand that we are happy, but we just bring
ourselves down with desires of materialistic things. Therefore, if you want to be
happy, be like Doctor Bockman and destroy the want for money and high end things.
Suffer for a time and things will get better.