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Fahrenheit 451 point of view
Fahrenheit 451 connections to modern day
Notions of happiness that occur in fahrenheit 451
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"Are you happy?" "What is true happiness to you?" Bet you didn't know how to answer these questions. That being that these are questions not many of us actually put thought into. While reading the book "Fahrenheit 451," your mind will ponder the thought of happiness. The author Ray Bradbury really focuses the book on this idea of happiness he's created. The societies happiness is portrayed in an idea of living with a sitcom family, and dreams of adding on various walls sized televisions. People in this society do not have their own thoughts or do not express emotion. True happiness comes from acceptance of the situation and living life so you matter, make a difference and change the world somehow. The Fahrenheit 451 society seems utterly …show more content…
"The important thing for you to remember, Montag, is we're the Happiness Boys... you and I and the others. We stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought. We have our fingers in the dike. Hold steady. Don't let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world." "Burn everything that causes feelings and will get your mind going," is what Beatty's mindset is; he thinks firemen should burn books to keep everything the way it is. The society lives on simple pleasures in life that do not require any thought once so ever. They forget their own problems with constantly watching TV. There's no time at all for thinking. However, it does not make peoples thoughts completely disappear; it only keeps their minds distracted all the time, so they forget. They aren't able to accept their feelings, making them have no way to be able to express …show more content…
While we have our own rights such as; the freedom of speech, freedom of thoughts, and freedom to be ourselves, you'd think we'd be making more of a difference as a whole country. However, we are not, many of us have the same mindset as the people in Fahrenheit 451's society. Millions of us sit in front of TV's for hours doing nothing, others play video games, or are on the computer. No one is enjoying our rights to freely think, we just go along with the crowd. We need to see changes in our society today, so we do not end up like the one in Fahrenheit
In Fahrenheit 451, the residents were not happy in the society they were confined to. The government there made them believe they were happy because they had no sense of feelings and if they did they would have been killed, sent to the psychiatrist who would then prescribe them pills, and just thought of as a threat. The word “intellectual” was seen as a swear word, so from that you can see what type of society the people were living in. In general, the residents of Fahrenheit 451 were not happy at all and were the victims of media and entertainment.
Imagine living in a world where everything everyone is the same. How would you feel if you were not able to know important matters? Being distracted with technology in order to not feel fear or getting upset. Just like in this society, the real world, where people have their faces glued to their screen. Also the children in this generation, they are mostly using video games, tablets, and phones instead of going outside and being creative with one another. Well in Fahrenheit 451 their society was just like that, dull and conformity all around. But yet the people believed they were “happy” the way things were, just watching TV, not thinking outside the box.
Are you really happy? Or are you sad about something? Sad about life or money, or your job? Any of these things you can be sad of. Most likely you feel discontentment a few times a day and you still call yourself happy. These are the questions that Guy Montag asks himself in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In this book people are thinking they are happy with their lives. This is only because life is going so fast that they think they are but really there is things to be sad about. Montag has finally met Clarisse, the one person in his society that stops to smell the roses still. She is the one that gets him thinking about how his life really is sad and he was just moving too fast to see it. He realizes that he is sad about pretty much everything in his life and that the government tries to trick the people by listening to the parlor and the seashells. This is just to distract people from actual emotions. People are always in a hurry. They have 200 foot billboards for people driving because they are driving so fast that they need more time to see the advertisement. Now I am going to show you who are happy and not happy in the book and how our society today is also unhappy.
The society envisioned by Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 is often compared to Huxley's Brave New World. Though both works definitely have an anti-government theme, this is not the core idea of Bradbury's novel. As Beatty explains in part one, government control of people's lives was not a conspiracy of dictators or tyrants, but a consensus of everyday people. People are weak-minded; they don't want to think for themselves and solve the troubling problems of the world. It is far easier to live a life of seclusion and illusion-a life where the television is reality. Yet more importantly, Fahrenheit 451 is an anti-apathy and anti-dependence and anti-television message. People in the novel are afraid-afraid of themselves. They fear the thought of knowing, which leads them to depend of others (government) to think for them. Since they aren't thinking, they need something to occupy their time. This is where television comes in. A whole host of problems arise from television: violence, depression and even suicide.
Fahrenheit 451 is a book that takes place in the future. In a society that has been modernized to a lack of knowledge, there is one key factor that plays a role in ,not only the book, but to the reason these people are so oblivious to life. The reason is simply that their knowledge, and all information of history and reality was cut off at the source.
In Fahrenheit 451, the residents were not happy in the society they were confined to. The government there made them believe they were happy because they had no sense of feelings and if they did they would have been killed, sent to the psychiatrist who would then prescribe them pills, and just thought of as a threat. Intellectual was deemed as a curse word in the Fahrenheit society because they were afraid of their citizens opposing the laws and regulation of society. From that you can see what type of society the people were living in. In general, the residents of Fahrenheit 451 were not happy at all and were the victims of media and entertainment.
In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, irony is often used to convey information and contribute to the overall theme of the novel. Many parts of the book contain this irony because it works well for fueling either the main antagonist or protagonist actions. Fahrenheit 451 is a book based on the ideals of a “utopian society” where books are illegal and burned if they’re found. Firemen are ordered to burn books and all houses that contain them, versus putting out fires and protecting people. In communities people don’t think, they cannot be ‘intellectuals’, and they are forced become drones of the government’s ideals. In the novel Farenheit 451 irony is used to express the complex ideas of the society, but also gives the book more understanding and meaning by making us think differently, how characters are ironically told not to.
Author Ray Bradbury uses characterization and figurative language to demonstrate that when happiness is forced, people become ignorant of their emotions. People believe they’re happy, but are pretending and showing that their fake happiness is a disguise to unhappiness. Throughout the novel, Bradbury describes the society’s happiness as a superficial happiness that avoids problems by watching television all day long. When Clarisse asks Montag a question right before she leaves for their first meeting, she asks, “‘Are you happy?’
Upon investigating the dehumanized complexion of the societies in these two novels, it is seen that both authors effectively use this setting to convey their warnings. These societies lack positive emotions, particularly love. In Fahrenheit 451, a teenager named Clarisse McClellan rubs a dandelion under Montag’s chin. Since the dandelion doesn’t rub off, she claims Montag isn’t in love. He originally denies this, for he has a wife name Mildred. However, he later realizes “That awful flower the other day, the dandelion! It had summed up everything” (Bradbury 41). Montag has reached the conclusion that he doesn’t love Mildred, his own wife! This epitomizes the dehumanized society of Fahrenheit 451, a society in which there are no strong emotions. Emotions are part of what characterizes humanity. Without them, people would merely be machines. Montag has not experienced love or happiness, and because of this he has not truly ...
The philosopher Aristotle once wrote, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” This famous quote compels people to question the significance of their joy, and whether it truly represents purposeful lives they want to live. Ray Bradbury, a contemporary author, also tackles this question in his book, Fahrenheit 451, which deals heavily with society's view of happiness in the future. Through several main characters, Bradbury portrays the two branches of happiness: one as a lifeless path, heading nowhere, seeking no worry, while the other embraces pure human experience intertwined together to reveal truth and knowledge.
Fahrenheit 451’s Relevance to Today Fahrenheit 451’s relevance to today can be very detailed and prophetic when we take a deep look into our American society. Although we are not living in a communist setting with extreme war waging on, we have gained technologies similar to the ones Bradbury spoke of in Fahrenheit 451 and a stubborn civilization that holds an absence of the little things we should enjoy. Bradbury sees the future of America as a dystopia, yet we still hold problematic issues without the title of disaster, as it is well hidden under our democracy today. Fahrenheit 451 is much like our world today, which includes television, the loss of free speech, and the loss of the education and use of books. Patai explains that Bradbury saw that people would soon be controlled by the television and saw it as the creators chance to “replace lived experience” (Patai 2).
Happiness plays an important and necessary role in the lives of people around the world. In America, happiness has been engrained in our national consciousness since Thomas Jefferson penned these famous words in the Declaration of Independence: “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” (Jefferson). Since then, Americans have been engaged in that act: pursuing happiness. The problem however, as Ray Bradbury demonstrates in his novel Fahrenheit 451, is that those things which make us happy initially may eventually lead to our downfall. By examining Guy Montag, the protagonist in Fahrenheit 451, and the world he lives in we can gain valuable insights to direct us in our own pursuit of happiness. From Montag and other characters we will learn how physical, emotional, and spiritual happiness can drastically affect our lives. We must ask ourselves what our lives, words, and actions are worth. We should hope that our words are not meaningless, “as wind in dried grass” (Eliot).
As the generations evolve the warnings of “Fahrenheit 451”become more important to prevent the exposure of the situations. Important situations that could be a warning to future generations is how books hold the history to the past .Reading books helps you get a better understanding of events that happen and allow you to advance your education.Another message expressed in the novel is communication,and the importance of stay in touch with one another.This is significant due to the society’s advance of technology that cause the characters to talk and communicate with people. Just like in our society the generations don’t always communicate because they call and text one another.A finally warning to the future generations is the symbolism of
Happiness: an idea so abstract and intangible that it requires one usually a lifetime to discover. Many quantify happiness to their monetary wealth, their materialistic empire, or time spent in relationships. However, others qualify happiness as a humble campaign to escape the squalor and dilapidation of oppressive societies, to educate oneself on the anatomy of the human soul, and to locate oneself in a world where being happy dissolves from a number to spiritual existence. Correspondingly, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Krakauer’s Into the Wild illuminate the struggles of contentment through protagonists which venture against norms in their dystopian or dissatisfying societies to find the virtuous refuge of happiness. Manifestly, societal
But in this debate, one question still raises its head - What is happiness? Happiness is not actually leading a luxurious life, but the luxury of living a life. Happiness is not actually about expanding your business, but it lies in expanding the horizons of life. Happiness is not having a meal in the most famous restaurant, but having it with your most beloved family. It does not lie in attending honorable parties, but to attend a party with honor.