“What is happiness to you?” We all have heard this question sometime throughout our life. Even the famous movie, “Vanilla Sky”, staring Tom Cruise, centers its entire theme on this topic. There are many forms of happiness that one may encounter on many levels, whether if it is either helping out a fellow colleague or simply doing a certain act of service that gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment. But our world today presents another path to the so-called happiness that we all desire. This is the path that has now evolved around materialistic values and consumerism that has made a large impact on our society. In Harry Crews’ essay “The Car” and James B. Twitchell’s “Two Cheers for Materialism”; we begin to take notice of the reality of materialism and how it is playing a major role in our lives. Many studies have been performed to try and discover an answer to the question on whether material possessions can lead to happiness; it seems that our society continues to fail at making a decision. However, the majority of tests prove that our society does believe that our lives are becoming too materialistic and money doesn’t essentially lead to a form of happiness in one’s life. (read full text…)