Fahrenheit 451: Happiness?

Fahrenheit 451: Happiness?

Fahrenheit 451 is a novel of little happiness. Society as a whole has become content with watching television and wasting away their lives, while a few individuals ponder the true meaning of life and happiness. Bradbury throughout the book depicts what our world could become, and almost sends a warning to the reader on how to avoid this unfriendly fate.

The society that is portrayed during this novel is neither happy nor sad. The citizens are glued to their "walls", or gigantic televisions, and live a life that is remembered by nothing of importance. True happiness as a society in this novel is the idea of living with a sitcom family, and the dream of adding more wall size televisions. People do not creatively think, or for that matter truly show emotion. The society believes that by teaching freedoms and imagination, wars will break out, and qualms will spark. The remedy for free-thinking in Fahrenheit 451 is the exact opposite, burn everything that causes feelings and stirs up the mind, and sulk into a world of daydreams. This is the sad mindset that most of the society is seen living in, which directly reflects their way of life.

The society in which we live in today, while nothing like the book, does share its resemblances. The constitution gives us the basic rights that all people should have; the freedom of speech, the freedom to think, and the freedom to be ourselves. With all these freedoms, one would imagine that our country as a whole is about freethinking and making a difference, but in reality it is in some ways the society portrayed in Fahrenheit 451. Millions of people each and every day sit in front of the television for hours and hours, while others have a life of superficial entertainment such as video games and computers. Some states to this day still censor books and control what their citizens can learn about and what they can't. I believe that happiness to this day is a word undefined by many. To find happiness in our society, one needs to find total inner peace, something I doubt many have ever even looked for. Happiness in our society is harder to find than in the society of Fahrenheit 451, but once achieved, it is a true happiness, one which grows upon its seeds, and sprouts a great and fulfilling life for that person. The average citizen in our society believes themselves to be happy, but in reality, they too are replacing their true desires and childhood dreams with superficial entertainment and mindless activities, which resembles the society which is portrayed in Fahrenheit 451.

Throughout the book, Bradbury blatantly shows his viewpoint on the issue of happiness. Through Montag, Bradbury creates a character which resembles himself, and