Riassunto esame Lingua e letteratura inglese, prof. Weekes, libro consigliato The geography of bliss, Weiner

THE NETHERLANDS

Eric Weiner, the author of this book, decides to go in search of the happiest and blissful places in the world. The first place that he visits is The Netherlands. Here he rents an apartment in Rotterdam, the city where he starts his research and where there is the "godfather of happiness researches", the professor Ruut Veenhoven (the first scientist who deals with the pursuit of happiness and of happy places all over the world). Our author goes to WDH (World Database of Happiness) for meeting and interviewing Veenhoven. He starts the interview in a normal and calm way, asking the professor how did he become interested in happiness studies. Veenhoven is a sociologist who started to work in this topic thanks to Jeremy Bentham and his utilitarian theory of happiness, but also thanks to other famous and oldest philosopher such as Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Schopenhauer and many others. Other study areas that allow research on happiness are: religion and data. Religion is important because instructs people who believe in the way of bliss, while data are equally essential as they "give credibility" to the topic. After an introduction to his education, he starts analyzing the different way in which happiness can express itself and where people can be more happy. Veenhoven tells to Weiner that the world "happiness" and also how is it used change from country to country. We aren't able to know how and why a country is happier than another, we only know that there are some places where people are happier than others who live in different countries.

After interviewing Veenhoven, the author dedicates the rest of his stay in Rotterdam analyzing data about poor and rich countries, democracies and dictatorships etc... At the end of the chapter Weiner argues that Dutches are happy because they are tolerant. Tolerance makes you happy and the three aspects that differentiate Dutch from others are: cycling, drugs and prostitution. The author decides to try one of these aspects and be finally happy like Dutch people: he wants to try drugs in coffee shop, but he finds out that is only a pleasure and "there's more to life than pleasure".

The first chapter ends with the awareness (presa di coscienza) of the author about happiness. The Netherlands is the starting point of his research, that doesn't stop with data/statistics and spreadsheets, but it continues in another country of his "bliss atlas": Switzerland!

SWITZERLAND

The second country visited by the author is Switzerland. He immediately realizes that the stereotypes about Switzerland are true: everything is efficient, functional, clean; trains are extremely punctual; chocolate is delicious; the Swiss are serious and humorless. But the Swiss seem to be not so happy.

Eric arrives in Geneva by train and he finds an accommodation with his friend Susan. Eric asks Susan to organize an appointment with a "real" Swiss, and he finally meets Dieter, a Swiss doctor. Dieter believes that the source of Swiss happiness is, besides cleanliness, preventing envy. In fact, the Swiss believe that envy is dangerous for happiness, and money is an incredible source of envy, so we can understand why the Swiss hate to talk about money. The Swiss, says also Dieter, are not used to show their happiness, they don't never use word like "awesome" or "super" to describe something. In this way, it follows that the Swiss are very boring. But Dieter reveals that there's another source of happiness for the Swiss: nature. Switzerland has one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, the Alps, and when you are on the top of a mountain, you see the world in a different way. Eric wants to verify this fact, and he and Susan go to Zermatt, a town situated in the Alps. They catch a cable car that links Zermatt to the top of the mountain. Once they reach to top, they look at the landscape under their feet and they feel satisfied and happy.

Back in Geneva, Eric meets Jalil, a young boy that plays in a band. Jalil affirms that the Swiss are happy because they have euthanasia laws, which give the possibility to kill yourself when you are fed up with your life.

During his stay in Switzerland, Eric realizes that he has nothing in common to the Swiss, except for the love for chocolate, which someone considers a source of happiness. He also understands that the Swiss are happy because they trust each other and because they live in a democratic country. The only negative aspect of Switzerland is probably the presence of too much rules to follow but, anyway, the Swiss seem to be really happy.

Moldova (CAP.6)

The next country that Eric has to visit is Moldova, a very unhappy place. It is a small country situated between two unhappy places, Romania and Ukraine. Eric’s accommodation is Luba’s apartment in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. Luba is an old lady who is born in Russia and then moved to Moldova during the Soviet Union times.

Life in Moldova in very difficult, because there’s no money to spend. In the capital Chisinau there’s a McDonald’s, but it is so expensive that nobody can eat there. Moldovans compare themselves to the rich countries of Europe and they obviously feel unhappy. During Soviet Union times, life in Moldova was pretty much happy: they were richer than Romanians and they could travel in the countries of the Union without a visa. Now, Romanians are richer and Moldovans must have a visa to travel around the world.

Eric meets Vitalie, a blogger, and they talk about Moldova’s happiness and unhappiness. Moldovans hate their government: they have no democracy, no politic power. Then, Moldovans don’t trust anything: they even don’t trust their family members. There is no Moldovan culture, no Moldovan language. People have no jobs and no places to live. Moldova is also full of corruption. Definitely, Moldova is an unhappy place. Anyway, Vitalie appreciates the strong personality of Moldovans and fresh fruits and vegetables.

Then Eric meets Marisha, the owner of the website “Marisha.net”. Marisha affirms that the reason of Moldova’s unhappiness is the substitution of real values with money values.

Eric also meets Joanna, a volunteer in the Peace Corps. Joanna believes that being useful and help the others contributes to happiness. Moldovans are unhappy because they are selfish: in Moldova nobody wants to spend money to help who has difficulties, because they try to save as much money as possible. Envy toward the richest is very popular in Moldova and, as the Swiss believe, it is a clear sign of unhappiness. In spite of all, Joanna likes some Moldovan traditions and, obviously, the fresh fruits and vegetables.

The last person that Eric meets before leaving Moldova is Sandru, a Moldovan who intensely hates Russians. Sandru affirms that people in Moldova are unhappy because they don’t have a culture, an identity: they don’t know who they are.