Examples Of Happiness In Fahrenheit 451

Happiness is fundamental and important to all human beings. It is defined as the state in which an individual feels gratification and peacefulness. Nothing can measure happiness, yet everyone seeks it. In Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, happiness is defined by technology. In this imagined society, technological tools fascinate people – they desire them and practically dream about them. This essay will demonstrate that people are so accustomed to the presence of mass media that they unconsciously become anti-intellectual because the society does not encourage them to use their critical thinking, as the majority prefers simplicity rather than complexity e.g. details in books. In fact, the mass electronic media encourages conformity, censorship, and only brings bleak consequences rather than happiness. The society appears utopic in nature, but in reality people who live there are miserable and unhappy. Bradbury portrays a society where Seashells and TV wall screens define happiness. The majority of the population spends a tremendous time with their electronic “family” that does not have positive effects on them. In fact, the TV shows presented on the walls have a lack of meaning and lead to a conformist place – they do not encourage individual thinking. For instance, this lack of distinctiveness is explained by the formal belief of this society, which states that freedom, critical thinking, and imagination lead to war and create unhappiness. Beatty supports this belief.