Kevin Dhimitri

Performance Matters
Professor Finley
09/15/2016
Happy Objects Response
Often times you hear someone tell you you should be happy. To that person telling you this, it
seems as if you already have everything you need to be happy, namely a career, social life,
opportunities, money, whatever. But in reality, you are still searching for something; happiness is but a
temporal feeling that must be continuously brought up.
I believe that our source of happiness is from within. Our freedom to get out there and get what
we want, and live the life we want is vital to our happiness. In Ahmed's interpretation of Bend It Like
Beckham (2004), the father initially does not want Jess to undergo the same ridicule he went through,
but later realizes that he must allow Jess to lead her own path for her to be happy. In the end, The
daughters are happy (they are living the lives they wish to lead), the parents are happy (as their
daughters are happy), and we are happy (as they are happy) (Ahmed 46). For sustainable happiness
you must be free to attain your soul's desires.
There are other kinds of happiness, happiness that is directly connected with an object we have
assigned value, or happiness felt when completing a goal. This kind of happiness is different for
everyone. Our past experiences, especially those we look at with nostalgia (such as childhood), are the
basis of many deeply rooted joys and pains we have. When I was a child, my mother gave me a piece
of Fruit Roll-Ups when I was sad; it made me really happy that my mother did this for me, and now
that candy is a happy object for me. We each have something like that in our lives. Ahmed says that, in
society, certain objects become imbued with positive affect as good objects, but for you to be happy
from it there must be something that happens internally; that object must point you to happiness
(Ahmed 34).
Locke says what is good is apt to cause or increase pleasure, or diminish pain in us (Ahmed

31). The pleasure we extract from objects depends on what associations we have had with such object
in the past. For example, a quarter from 1932 has the same value as any other quarter. But when you
think about how many years it's been through, how many people have exchanged this coin and it to
have ended up in your possession: then it is an antique you get pleasure in owning. It is our perception
of objects that we come across that make it happy or not. It is uniquely you.
No one, including family members, can know exactly what makes you happy. My parents often
try to give me the best of the options we have, whether it be the best room, best piece of meat, etc.
They believe that doing that for me will make me happy. In actuality, I enjoy making the sacrifice and
letting someone else have the better. It makes me happy to make someone I love happy. Doing what
you love will bring you sustainable happiness throughout your life, and objects containing a
meaningful connection to you will also make you happy.

(Ahmed, Sarah. Happy Objects. The Affect Theory Reader. Comp. Melissa Gregg and Gregory J.
Seigworth. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2010. N. pag. Print.)