Analysis of The Hapiness Conspiracy and Fahrenheit 451

As human beings we are naturally wired to seek happiness wherever we can find it. When we don’t, we may enter a stage of anger, anxiety, or distress. That’s why it is our personal goal to look for happiness and preserve it once we acquire it. Many have explored ways to find what triggers this feeling of “happiness” and what we can do to keep it; nonetheless, the evidence found is hardly sufficient to make a public statement on how to find happiness. For this reason, most of the time we speculate what might provoke this feeling of contentment. “Happiness is a glass half empty,” an essay written by Oliver Burkeman, highlights the importance of happiness and discloses how we can find delight through unorthodox methods. The prime objective of this piece of writing is to inform the audience about the effect of happiness on their lives and how their usual attempts of becoming happier can sabotage achieving this feeling. Furthermore, he wants to promote the benefits of pessimism and describe how it can help us in the long run. The author utilizes pronouns, logos, and pathos in order to prove his point and draw the audience into his essay, in an attempt of making them reconsider the way they live their lives and adopt this new pessimistic way that would greatly boost their level of happiness.

In “Happiness: Enough Already,” Sharon Begley argues that happiness is overrated and it should not always be a priority in your life.

In Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury criticizes the loss of humanity and relationships, which leads to the possibility of the society's downfall. Bradbury shows that the society that Montag lives in has become uncaring and insensitive to the tragedies that happen around them, treating them as a normality. At first, Montag does not pay any mind to the tragedies happening around him, but he soon sees the events happening around him in a new light. Bradbury suggests that the lack of relationship and humanity that the society and government hold can lead to the destruction of Montag’s society.

The society in Ray Bradbury's, Fahrenheit 451 is almost completely made up of the falsehood that everyone is “happy”. Up until the main character Montag, meets Clarisse, he believes that he is “happy.” Then he is asked a simple question…“Are you happy?” (Bradbury 10). This was the most significant turning point for Montag and is what caused him stop and think about what his life had really become. The propaganda throughout the book plays a substantial role in people's lives, but not in a positive way. The government brainwashes them to not think or read, and encourages them to have a hatred for whoever breaks the law. In Fahrenheit 451, propaganda plays a dangerous role in influencing the decisions made by the characters.

It is natural for people to seek happiness. Everyone has their own methods, but at the end of the day, they all search for pleasure and gratification for their actions. Sometimes, this happiness can be long-lasting, and at other times, it is merely a short-lived illusion. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, society has conditioned itself to believe that instant excitement and shallow stimulation is equal to happiness. Due to this, people no longer take the time to appreciate and create intimate relationships with others. Guy Montag, a fireman and conforming member of society, begins to question these beliefs. He begins to see that people seek instant gratification and refuse to put effort into finding happiness. He recognizes these traits not

The book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury was about a fireman name Guy Montag. Montag does the opposite from what regular fireman do. He starts fires instead of putting them out. Books in Montag's society is forbidden to read and if caught reading the book would be set on fire. Instead of reading, that society watches large amounts of television as big as the wall and listens to the radio attached to their ears. It was not normal for pedestrians to talk and have meaningful conversations until Montag met a teenager name Clarisse. Clarisse was a strange girl that opened up Montag thoughts. She asked him about his work and what made him become a fireman. One question that really got him to think was the statement “Are you happy”(Bradbury 10). Montag believed that Clarisse was odd. She wasn’t like the norm of the society. She read books, walked the city like a pedestrian and, had meaningful conversations. After that encounter with Clarisse a number of events started to happen to him; his wife Mildred tried to commit suicide with prescription pills, a woman that hid books in her home decides to burn a live with her books, and Clarisse is killed in a car accident., With all these tragic events occuring, Montag tries to find a solution to this epidemic. The society has become controlled from power, a sense of censorship. Bradbury has shown his viewpoint of society through this novel.

When the secondary characters of a book are written in a unique way than in most other novels, it can bring up challenging questions regarding their lives. This is most apparent in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, where everyone seems happy in a futuristic life without books and instead uses a vast array of technology to occupy their downtime. But when we look at how they live everyday, even though they seem happy, are they really? Most citizens in the novel do the same routine day in and day out, not really questioning why everything is the way it is. It is almost as if they have been brainwashed in a way to make them seem happy, but in actuality they wouldn’t really know compared to our day’s standards. Though they might be happy living in their lifestyles, the people of Fahrenheit 451 are not actually sure of what happiness is, and therefore cannot be happy when they do not know what brings happiness.

In a futuristic society where the vast majority of people lack emotion and knowledge, quality of life seems to be on a rapid decline. In this society where book owners are burned and thinking for yourself is an anomaly, people are becoming more like robots than humans. Although, one character by the name of Montag who once thought himself happy finds himself having multiple revelations about the world he’s living in. After meeting a girl named Clarisse, he begins to question everyone around him including his own wife. Ray Bradbury uses a plethora of different symbols in his novel, Fahrenheit 451, to help readers understand the relevance of its many themes. As he is exposed to the truth of things in his society, Montag changes his

Throughout the story of Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag goes from being carefree about his current living situation to realizing that, there may be something more to life. Though meeting Clarissa throws Montag through the finish line, his journey away from society began long before Clarissa. She pushed him out of the darkness and into the light. His eyes were thrust open from her asking of one simple question; “Are you happy?” (Bradbury, Page 14). The question rocked Montag’s world. Montag says, ““Happy! Of all the nonsense.” He stopped laughing… Of course I’m happy. What does she think? I’m not?” (Bradbury, Page 14). The society’s ways of living in the fast lane were happiness to him, until he discovered what lived within the books. In the beginning of the book, Montag was content burning the books, living in the fast lane, not having a full relationship with his wife. He was fine with living like everyone else in his society and turning a blind eye to occurrences that did not fit into the society’s ideas of happiness. As Montag began to read the books he stole, his eyes were opened to an entire new world. He begins to wonder about others and their feelings, and asks strange questions. When he asks his wife, Mildred, where they met, she has no problem with

Everyone strives to find their happiness in life, but there will be people out there who will try and stop you from doing what you love. The novel, Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, creates a society where the character Guy Montag suffers inside the dystopia to find his happiness and quickly discovers the wrongs inside of it. Montag is a simple living man who faced no challenges, but once he realized that his society is a dystopia, Montag soon began to change his actions inside the community that had caused him to turn into a defensive and fearless man in search to find his happiness.

Happiness Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Montag goes through many trials and hardships that changed him dramatically over the course of the book. When we are brought into the book, we see that he is not happy at all with really anything. He is not content with anything in his life and is curious about all the things he shouldn’t be; according to the government. He wants to know more about books… but in the world, books are illegal. Supposedly, they cause you to think against the government and can cause hate and unwanted behavior.

A major theme found in the novel Fahrenheit 451 is that your perception of happiness affects your happiness. This message is largely emulated in Montag’s journey of self discovery throughout the book. His perception of happiness changes from the beginning to the end. In the first few pages, Montag believes happiness comes from being comfortable, along with the rest of his society. The novel opens with the line “It was a pleasure to burn”(3). Guy Montag is introduced as being content with his life and his job. He appears to find his satisfaction in the pleasure of burning books. However, after conversing with a bright minded girl named Clarisse, he begins to question what happiness really means to him. On page 12 he explains, “He wore his happiness

In Ray Bradbury’s novel,Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist, Guy Montag, learns that happiness comes from within from Mildred Montag, Clarisse McCellan, and Clarisse’s uncle. First, Clarisse made Montag question his happiness when asking, “‘ Are you happy?’”(Bradbury 7). Secondly, Mildred showed Montag she was not happy when she overdosed when Bradbury writes,”Her face was like a snow covered island...and her caring whether it came or went, went or came” (Bradbury 11). Lastly, Montag viewed an example of happiness when seeing Clarisse’s uncle, while watching him through their window, when bradbury writes,”...and the uncle who smiled so quietly and so earnestly”(Bradbury 14). In conclusion, Guy Montag is shown that true happiness comes from within

“It was a pleasure to burn;” thus begins Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, which tells the story of a society focused on man-made equality. In Captain Beatty’s rant to Guy Montag, Beatty uses rhetorical devices to convey his idea that everyone wants to be happy. Happiness is life’s only pleasure. Captain Beatty uses diction to reveal his attitude in the story. Beatty wants to be happy and feels everyone else does too.

The world seems to be a dark and unforgiving place, but happiness is hidden within. It is found in a beautiful view, an uplifting song, or a compliment from a friend. According to the Ted Talk video, The Habits of Happiness, Matthieu Ricard claims that everyone “has a deep, profound desire for well-being or happiness”(Ricard 2:39). Ricard uses the three techniques of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to captivate and move his audience. With the use of metaphors, personal experiences, and even graphs Matthieu explained to his audience the full force and perception of the bendable word that is happiness. This Ted Talk dove into philosophical meaning on just how to achieve well-being, without having everything in the world.