Cody C. Delistraty begins his
article talking about a painting by Claude Monet called “Le Déjeuner” which is
a simple painting that depicts a family eating lunch at their country home. He
argues that it is beautiful because of its mundaneness. Abraham Goldberg, a
professor at the University of South Carolina Upstate, and his team made an
experiment collecting information about people’s happiness in New York City,
London, Berlin, Paris, and Toronto. Before this experiment, people were said to
find happiness in the “Big Seven:” wealth, career, family relationships,
health, friends, freedom and personal values, according to London School of
Economic professor, Richard Layard’s outline in Happiness: Lessons from a New Science. However, after Goldberg’s
study, they discovered that what makes people happy is living in a beautiful
city; being surrounded by great architecture, history, nature, etc. wildly
impacts their happiness. George MacKerron, a lecturer at the University of
Sussex made an iPhone app called “Mappiness,” (used by over 45,000 people
today) that asks simple questions such as “How happy do you feel” or “How awake
are you” and provides a lot of information about happiness. The two greatest
times when people were happy were during sexually intimate moments of during
exercise. The nest three reasons are, however, related to beauty: being at a
theater or a concert; in a museum; and while doing artistic activities, such as
painting or writing. Humans appreciate beauty because it usually brings
feelings we associate with happiness: calmness, appreciation, reflection, and
hope. A common explanation for why beauty and happiness are connected is based
on evolution and economics. According to a Yale professor, a person considered
beautiful by a Western beauty scale has their happiness increased by an
estimated ratio of 1 to 10. The paper concludes that the reason for this is
because prettier people make more money. On the evolutionary standpoint, being
beautiful implies health, which implies great reproductive capabilities, which
attract successful mates. Physical beauty can help with economic and
relationship statuses, however the beauty surrounding people gives them hope
that life has more things to offer than what they already have. According to
Stendhal, the 18-th century French writer, “Beauty is the promise of
happiness.”
Delistraty writes his article in
an interesting manner. He uses a lot of information about books, researches,
and experiments. He also adds to his argument by giving statistics of people’s
happiness, which makes the reader empathize with what he is saying and gives
the article more credibility. By his word choice and the argument he supports,
it is clear he agrees that people can find happiness in the little things in
life; and that claim gives people hope in itself. The article, in my opinion,
is intended to show the reader that they do not have to go far if they want to
be happy; simple day to day activities can bring joy the same way that
traveling overseas can. It was a success because he clearly expresses his
opinion and conveys the information easily to the reader.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/the-beautyhappiness-connection/375678/
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