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Figurative Language In Fahrenheit 451

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Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 explores what is considered happiness in a futuristic society where the citizens live censored and superficial lives, favoring mindless entertainment and ignorant bliss over knowledge, freedom, and individuality. While some characters initially appear to be satisfied, the majority show evidence that they are not genuinely content and struggle to live truly happy lives due to their society. Shown through varied figurative language and symbolism, Bradbury explores different characters and their contrasting pursuits of happiness, conveying a message of how the illusion of happiness of materialism and entertainment fails against the true happiness of knowledge, freedom, and individuality.
Beatty and Mildred both represent false happiness from sustainability and materialism, choosing the bliss of ignorance over the pursuit of knowledge. They praise the way society is, both insisting to Montag that they are happy and attempting to get him to conform in the same way they have. However, they both show evidence that they are not truly happy with their hollow lives, which lack emotion and meaningfulness. Beatty acts as symbolism for what Montag could have become. Similar to Montag, Beatty is a firefighter who has read books and educated himself. However, he insists on continuing to conform to society and tries to convince Montag to do so as well, claiming that literature is too controversial, which causes tension and does not lead to happiness. Bradbury
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