Fahrenheit 451 Happiness Essay

Happiness From One Society to Another Thomas Jefferson once famously wrote, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Declaration). He believes that everyone should have the right to have the chance to become happy. In the Book Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury writes about a society that does not have this opportunity. In this world, Montag, the main character, is a fireman who instead of putting our fires, fuels them. He starts to question why he is doing what he is doing and if he is truly happy with is life. What makes people “happy” in this world is TVs and petty little

Mildred’s sedentary lifestyle is not the same lifestyle Montag wants to live. Clarisse, on the other hand, wants to engage in conversation and debate. This causes her to be forced to see a psychologist and diagnosed “anti-social”: “’Why aren’t you in school? I see you everyday wondering around.’ ‘Oh they don’t miss me,’ she said. ‘I’m antisocial they say. I don’t mix. It’s strange. I’m very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn’t it? Social to me means talking you about things like this.’” (Bradbury 29). She finds joy in talking with people and that is one of the many reasons why she is truly happy as a person. She likes that human interactions that cannot be shared when texting or chatting online. Some may argue that we don’t need to physically interact with people to still get our fill of human interaction. An example may be chatting online or over Skype. The reason why this does not fulfill the need for communication is because we cannot fully get to read someone’s body language and understand the tone of voice they have when they speak to us. By communicating with others we are also showing selflessness and consideration for