Many people spend their entire lives waiting for happiness to find them, unaware that they must go out and work for it. Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 shows a world where books have become outlawed, suppressing people’s knowledge, and at the same time their voices. Guy Montag, the protagonist of the story, is introduced as a book burning firefighter that helps the government oppress the people. He later encounters a rebellious teen, Clarisse, who helps alter Montag’s perspective about life. Although Clarisse’s presence is brief, she helps teach the people that waiting for happiness is futile, you must go out and actively seek it. You must continue to fight for your happiness, and not become oppressed. Faber, an elderly professor …show more content…
Montag’s wife Mildred expresses a life entangled in the illusion of happiness. The city’s destruction forces Montag to confront the shallowness of his previous existence. Looking back at his life, Montag explains how” I think of her hands, but I don't see them doing anything at all. "(Bradbury149) Mildred lived a life blinded by fake happiness, in which she never had a purpose. Mildred would live her life “hypnotized”, performing the same routine everyday until the day of her death. But Clarisse helped open Montag’s eyes, and showed him the real world. With Clarisse’s impact, Montag rejects artificial happiness and creates a life of genuine happiness before it is too late for him. Many people live like Montag used to, they believe they have everything that they want. However, Montag had everything he ever wanted in the city, he had a house, sustainable income, and a wife. However, all that meant nothing since Montag wasn't happy. He lived a life of lies, blinded by fake happiness. Explaining how “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.”(Bradbury 12) Clarisse destroyed the illusion of happiness Montag had used during his life. Showing him that he wasn’t truly happy, with this revelation Montag was able to take the steps needed to create his own life. One of genuine