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Happiness In Fahrenheit 451

Decent Essays

The Mask of Happiness

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses the character Mildred to convey how many people in society are discontent, even though they may seem happy. Throughout the novel Bradbury creates many characters that seem satisfied with their life of work and electronics, but Mildred in particular suggests that even one radiating happiness can still be broken and depressed inside.
Trying to convince oneself that they are happy is not an easy task, but one in which Mildred excels in. At the start of the book Mildred has a situation where she takes too many sleeping pills and a special doctors team has to rush over to their house to pump it out. Although this could be seen as an accident, some readers could interpret this action as …show more content…

Does the White Clown love you?” (p.73). Mildred finds herself exposed by this question because it makes her realize that everything she thought she knew about love is fake. She thought she had a real husband, but does she even love Montag? This statement can also be asked about society. Does anyone love each other in this city, or is it a place where all the inhabitants are emotionless, expressing little to no feelings? A few lines later Montag exposes her again by asking, “Millie, does--...does your ‘family' love you” (p.73), again suggesting how Mildred is living a false life even though she seems to have a few friends. No traces of Mildred’s family are heard of throughout the novel and this can leave the reader to wonder how Mildred was brought up and if this affects how she is in the story. In fact, the only time family is mentioned is by Clarisse and Montag. The main characters of the book seem to ignore their past and only focus on the ‘struggles’ of the present. By ignoring the past one cannot know how people became happy and cannot replicate the happiness. This may be a reason for the apparent restlessness of the city.
The character Mildred in novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury exemplifies how one can be very discontent with their life, but still cast out happiness. In modern day society this happens from day to day as people that are depressed or being bullied, and disguise their true feelings with a mask of joy just to fit in. Mildred has also done this in the book by convincing herself that she is happy and by fabricating a life and personality that she thought would make her normal in her society. This character can be a lesson to all readers to not follow her mistakes so that they can live a truly happy

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