Fahrenheit 451 Figurative Language

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Television is very popular in our society. But, what makes television so beloved? Is it the actors and actresses, the suspense, the quality, the humor, or the romance? While many of these aspects connect to why television is popular, the main reason is that watching television helps avoid problems, and gives a momentary happiness. These aspects are present in the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, where in their society books are banned and television is overpowering. The author Ray Bradbury uses characterization and figurative language to demonstrate when happiness is forced, people become ignorant with their emotions. People believe they’re happy, but are pretending and shows that their fake happiness is a disguise to unhappiness. Throughout When Clarisse asks Montag a question right before she leaves from their first meet, she asks, “‘Are you happy?’ she said. ‘Am I what?’ he cried. But she was gone. (...) [Montag later asks himself] ‘Happy! Of all the nonsense,’ he stopped laughing” (10). Clarisse questions Montag’s happiness because she believes that Montag is different than other people in society, (23) but notices he still has an superficial happiness like the rest of the citizens. Asking Montag if he’s happy caused Montag to realize he’s not happy, and changed his perspective of happiness. In addition, when Montag recites a section of Dover Beach to Mildred’s friends, Bradbury describes, “Mrs. Phelps was crying. The others(...) watched her crying grow very loud as her face squeezed itself out of shape. They sat, not touching her, bewildered with her display. She sobbed uncontrollably. Montag himself was stunned and shaken” (101). Mrs. Phelps starts crying because of Dover Beach referring to a war, which her husband is in during that section of the novel. The part of Dover Beach that Montag read displayed ignorance of love and happiness, which affected Mrs. Phelps because of not truly knowing what happiness and being in love feels like. This goes to show that when a book, or person questions When Montag goes to his house after meeting Clarisse, Bradbury states, “He (Montag) felt his smile slid away, melt, fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out. Darkness. He was not happy” (12). Bradbury uses a burning candle to compare it with Montag’s happiness. His happiness is going away, and finally “blows out.” This demonstrates that since Montag’s happiness is fake, he realizes he’s unhappy. The reason why Montag finds this out and not others in the society is because he does not spend his time watching television all day. When Montag discovers his problems instead of ignoring it, his fake happiness leads to unhappiness. Adding on to the previous quote, Bradbury writes, “He was not happy… he wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back” (12). After Clarisse asking him if he’s happy, Montag becomes aware of his superficial happiness. Montag wears his happiness as a mask, and when Clarisse takes his fake happiness away, Montag becomes unhappy and can not get his happiness back. Therefore, superficial happiness results in

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