Pursuit of Happyness Seminar

1. “Wake up, wake up! She screams. “Wake up!” (Gardner 36)

This part in Chapter 2 really hit home for me because I witness a similar situation with my mom when I was a kid. I felt helpless and couldn’t speech for a couple of days. At this point I had to take a break from reading the book.


2. My questions are simple: “What do you do? And “How do you do it?” (Gardner 4)

This is interesting to me because regardless of his situation he still believes in the American dream! I also watched the movie and that part to me was so surreal. That Ferrari 308 and the man that came out was a symbol of success. In a sense he was sort of a mirror of Chris Gardner.



3. “If you want to, one day you could make a million dollars.” (Gardner 10)

I found this to very interesting. This one comment changed Chris attitude towards that goal. Regardless of his situation in ‘the hood’, he still believes he could do anything. If she didn’t say that to him it is very possible that we would not be discussing this book as we speak. What is also interesting is the fact that many parents tell kids self defeating message to their children that they can’t do something. Many times is a reflection of the parent or adult. The sadist thing is that many times kids will believe it and that it a tragedy.