Assess The Theme Of Happiness And Distractions In Fahrenheit 451

In Fahrenheit 451 the author writes about a world where people are not allowed to read. This concept is actually influenced by events that happened during WW2. In real life, Hitler did not want the people of Germany to be too educated so there would not be any new ideas and no rebellions. The theme of happiness or distractions is a very interesting and bold theme in the book. Many characters show their own way of happiness. The characters in Fahrenheit 451 are not happy at all which is shown by the distractions such as technology taking over society, jobs that are not enjoyable, and hurting themselves to not feel anything. The book used to support this claim is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The houses in the book have some families which are just huge TV walls. There is only one channel on all the time and it can distract for many hours. Montag asked Mildred, his wife, about the ‘family’. Bradbury writes, “ ‘Millie, does- ‘ he licked his lips. ‘Does your ‘family’

Sometimes the feeling is so much that there is harm introduced into the situation. When Montag came back home one night, he found Mildred overdosed on pills. Bradbury wrote, “The small crystal bottle of sleeping tablets which earlier today had been filled with thirty capsules and which now lay uncapped and empty in the light of the tiny flare”(13). Montag found his wife Mildred unconscious after overdosing on pills. This shows that Mildred was not happy at all and she overdosed on pills to not feel that pain. Montag has also felt unhappy, especially after seeing his wife on the floor. Bradbury wrote, “I’m numb he thought. When did the numbness really begin… The night I kicked the pill bottle in the dark”(77). Montag really felt unhappy after seeing his wife in bad condition. This led Montag to believing that doing other things might help his happiness. Montag kept some books in his house and thought that books were the key to his