please god help me......I BEG YOU

i have an essay do on monday in my english 102 class. my professor is totally nutz, and has said that he would like me to explicate(explain to the fullest extent) the uses of technology in the Kurt Vonnegut story "The Euphio Question" But i haven't been able to find anything in that story that is really worth explicating. please god help me, i beg you. i have tried and tried to find something useful, but i don't know what to do. Or, if you would like, feel free to tell me some changes i can do to the essay i have already wrote. Thank you.

True Euphoria?

In one of Disney’s more recent movies titled Kronk’s New Groove one of the main characters, Esma, has a supposedly created a youth potion. The people who buy the potion are instantly addicted to it, and wind up selling everything they own, including their home because they need the money to feed their addiction. Of course, the protagonist of the story, Kronk, winds up saving the day by revealing the dangers of the so called “youth potion.” The people in the movie realize two things during the course of the story. The first is that happiness that people sell is usually not a very good form of happiness. The second is the fact that just because something makes you happy without working for it, it does not mean that it is free. Everyone pays a price for everything they do, some prices are a lot steeper than others.

Happiness is something that is desired in some form or another by any and every living being on the planet. Happiness is the goal that is work for, day in and day out, doing everything that is necessary to achieve that momentary feeling of satisfaction. In “The Euphio Question” Kurt Vonnegut Jr. uses a description of a false form of happiness to show that little quick fixes that cause great pleasure, can also lead the traveler down a path to losing sight of what is truly desired.

Directly after the two day vacation in Euphoria-land the Western Union boy says “Looks like them newsreels at Buchenwald, don’t it?” Buchenwald was one of the many Nazi death camps that were used for the execution and torture of Jews during World War II. Saying that a room full of people that had been in total euphoria for the past two days looks like people from a death camp sounds totally contradictory. It’s like saying that someone who is a billionaire looks like someone who has been living in an alley. The statements are seemingly exact opposites. This statement is used to show that even though the people have been in complete and utter “happiness” it has taken an un-godly toll on them. Their minds have been wandering and happy, but their bodies have taken a huge blow. In those two days, they haven’t eaten, washed, brushed their teeth, or even moved more than a few feet.

Looking at the Euphio from that point of view the severe possibilities of what could happen with the instant euphoria start to appear. The mind is happy, but the body is paying for that happiness. The mind is wandering around, without a care in the world while the body gets no nourishment or any form of exercise. The mind is doing absolutely no work, and neither is the body, but the problem is that it is okay to not think about anything major for a day or two. It is okay to relax your brain and just enjoy your surroundings. But, when doing this, a person usually goes on a vacation where their needs are taken care of. But when the euphio is the method of escape, the brain is just wandering around and the body is left behind doing nothing at all. Not taking care of any hygiene, not taking care of any bodily functions, not getting any foods to nourish the body or beverages to keep the body hydrated, the body is just their wherever it was when the euphio was turned on, basically being put on hold until for some reason or another you come out of the trance.

What exactly is happiness? A dictionary definition would probably be something like “the state of being happy” but that doesn’t really say anything about the true meaning. To be happy means to be delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing. In “The Euphio Question” people are happy because of something that broadcasts a signal that sends them into a “perfect” euphoria. If someone is sent into euphoria, without having done anything to achieve it, without having worked for something that they really wanted, is it really happiness? If someone just flips a switch, and becomes happy because of something that does nothing but shoot a jolt of happiness into them, can that be considered a “true” happiness? This all seems reminiscent of a drug addiction. The drug is put into the system of the addict, and it causes temporary happiness. In the beginning it takes only a little amount of the drug to cause a decent amount of a “buzz,” but after a while, more and more is needed to get back to the same level of buzz that the addict had when the addiction was first started. If this trend is put beside that of the Euphio, then that means that after a while a larger and more powerful jolt will have to be given to get the happiness flowing. A larger jolt will be a more expensive jolt. After a while the person would be using all the money they have, just to have that jolt of “happiness” that they desire so badly. This search for the “perfect” happiness can, and probably will lead the addict to losing all that they had worked for. If the addict is in a quest for more of the “happiness” then they would probably overlook bills that had no connection to the “happiness” and even then probably some of the more important bills that would need to be taken care of. Eventually, all of the addict’s money would be gone, because they would no longer care about work or anything of that didn’t give them the jolt of “happiness” that they had grown so accustomed too. In the end, everything would all be gone. Their money would be gone, if all their money is gone, then all of their possessions would be gone, which means they would be out of a house, car, etc. They would probably lose most of their relations in the long run. After all that has run out, then they would also be without the “happiness” that they gave up everything for.