Fahrenheit 451 Technology Analysis

Is happiness ever achieved? Or do distractions just make it seem like it is? Living in a world where books are banned and creativity is nonexistent people are forced to drag themselves along day by day with only technology to get them through it. In the book, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the characters are perceived as content individuals only to later be unveiled as unhappy, mindless people distracted by technology and the world around them.

One way that people get distracted from achieving happiness is through the use of technology. Mildred, Montag’s wife, constantly has her seashell earbuds in her ears, or is watching the huge wall-sized TVs in the parlor. While Montag is thinking about life before technology took over most people’s subconscious, Mildred is watching the parlor walls. It is shown here, “Montag turned and looked at his wife, who sat in the middle of the parlor talking to an announcer, who in turn was talking to her”(pg. 63). Mildred has allowed the technology around her take control of her emotions, and it has made her believe that she is happy. Not only does she act mindless with how engulfed she is with electronics,

Captain Beatty talks about the woman who was reported with books in her house, and he calls her insane. She was to be punished and have her books and house burned, then sent off to an insane asylum. She was happy with her books and it is shown here, “ ‘You can stop counting,’ she said. She opened the fingers of one hand slightly and in the palm of the hand was a single slender object. An ordinary kitchen match. The sight of it rushed the men out and down away from the house”(pg. 39). This woman was happier with her books, and chose not to live without them. The people around her did not see how she could get happiness from reading, and wanted to strip her free of her that. She would rather die, than live a life she would be unhappy