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Happiness Comprehension- Suggested answers

1. What does the author mean by the cheerleaders are policing the game with an iron fist

(line 6)? [2m]

Lifted Answer

Step 1: Identify and understand the key phrases.

Cheerleaders- proponents or supporters

The game- how to be happy or what it means by happiness

Policing Iron fist- enforcing strict rules

The author means that proponents / supporters / advocates of the

pursuit of happiness [#1] are dictating / enforcing with very strict rules

what it means to be happy / how to be happy. [#4]

2. According to the author, explain why itchy narcissists are the best consumers (line 10 -

11). Use your own words as far as possible. [2m]

Lifted Answer

The best consumers are

itchy narcissists who

move from one fleeting

desire to the next,

always in the process of

satisfying themselves,

but never deeply

satisfied.

It is because these people are concerned only with fulfilling their own

short-lived / ever-changing wants and they are constantly seeking

such self-gratification but never being truly fulfilled [1]

Therefore they keep buying to fulfil their needs and desires. [1m]

The first part has two components:

(a) What makes them itchy (b) What makes them narcissistic

The second part has to provide the context

- As to why they are the best consumers Where there is one point from the first part and another from the

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second part, 1m is rewarded

Where there are two points from the first part and one from the second

part, 2m is rewarded.

Lifting of satisfy will not be rewarded any marks.

3. What is the authors intention in the use of the word even in the line even depressed

people end up happy when personal satisfaction is the yardstick (lines 14)? [2m]

Lifted Answer

Even depressed people

end up happy when

personal satisfaction is

the yardstick.

He wants to emphasise /show that personal satisfaction is such a

misleading / inaccurate gauge of happiness, [1m]

so much so / to the extent that when it is used to measure happiness,

everyone would seem happy, including those who are extremely

unhappy. [1m]

Some answers we would accept:

(1) Intention: The intention is critical i.e. to show how shallow / ridiculous / inaccurate / misleading / superficial / unreliable the definition of happiness is.

(2) Explanation: Depressed people are supposed to be unhappy but using this yardstick, even these people would be considered / categorized / termed / perceived to be happy.

4. A happy and meaningful existence depends on the ability to feel emotions...that compete

with happiness. (lines 16-18)

What one emotion may the author be thinking of, and suggest how it makes our existence

happy and meaningful? [2m]

Lifted Answer

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Students own

suggestions.

Emotions must be opposite of happiness.

E.g. Anger, frustration, grief, anguish... [1m]

Overcoming these emotions will allow us to appreciate more whatever

happiness we have. The events that give rise to these emotions

provide meaning to our lives. [1m]

Note:

As long as the response to the second requirement of the question is

logical, 1m should be rewarded.

5. ...one of the best-documented examples of a happy society. (line 30)

Why does the author place inverted commas around the phrase happy society? [1m]

Lifted Answer

Inference

It is because they do not fall within the conventional

understanding of what makes a society happy, which

is associated with material well-being.

Simply stating that the society is not actually happy

is not enough for any mark to be awarded.

6. From paragraph 5, state three ways in which Ladakh today is different from what it was

before 1980. Use your own words as far as possible. [3m]

Lifted Answer

a) THEN: people who lived in harmony with their harsh environment / reverence for nature and love of life

a) Before, they had respect for their environment and surroundings, but now there is pollution and abuse of the land.

b) Everyone used to have friendly and close

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NOW: land degradation

b) THEN: mutual respect, community-mindedness, an eagerness to share

NOW: family breakdown / a

widening gap between rich and

poor

c) THEN: while depressed, burned-out people were nowhere to be found

NOW: declining mental health

relationships with each other, there is now strife in their homes and increasing economic differences drives them apart.

c) In the past, people were never unhappy or weary of life, but now they are generally psychologically troubled / increasingly facing psychological problems.

Note:

1m to be rewarded if students were to present the following answer: Before they were willing to share whereas today, there is a widening income gap.

Characteristics of then and now must be specified.

If there is lifting, 0m will be rewarded.

Responses that simply state what is present now and what was absent before, 0m will be rewarded.

No double marks for students who identify two separate changes that occur from a similar situation in the past.

7. Explain the paradox as stated by the author in lines 40-41 [1m]

Lifted Answer

What the Ladakhis of the pre 1980s show

us is a great paradox: the search for

personal happiness is never strictly

personal.

On the one hand, the search for happiness should

be about the self, but at the same time you cannot

achieve it without reaching out to others.

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8. SUMMARY POINTS

A- F: approaches

[s]: strengths

[w]: weaknesses

1. Personal happiness (A) is big business and everyone is selling it.

2. more people-friendly or planet-friendly happiness (B).

3. [however, people] always in the process of satisfying themselves, but never deeply

satisfied [w]

4. [so] it is just false needs that are being satisfied. [w]

5. No one is less able to achieve happiness than someone obsessed with feeling only

happiness. (C)

6. A happy and meaningful existence depends on the ability to feel emotions other

than happiness, as well as ones that compete with happiness. (D)

7. [sadly] lifes purpose for many has also dwindled to simply feeling good about

themselves [w]

8. the highest forms of happiness (E) have always been experienced and expressed as

love,

9. values like loyalty, friendship, moderation, honesty, compassion and trust.

recognised as happiness boosters [s]

10. Ladakhis were a remarkably joyous (E ) who lived in harmony with their harsh

environment.

11. Their culture generated mutual respect, community-mindedness, an eagerness to

share, reverence for nature and love of life. [s]

12. Their value system bred tenderness, empathy, spiritual awareness and

environmental conservation. [infer!! s]

13. Violence, discrimination, avarice and abuse of power were non-existent while

depressed, burned-out people were nowhere to be found. [infer!! s]

14. For happiness (F) to be mature and heartfelt, it must be shared whether by those

around us or by tomorrows children.

15. convenient myths much better at producing happy economies than happy people

[w]