Ava Dines
Mrs. Pickett
Honors English Hour 3
2 May 2023
Bradbury vs. Today’s Society: What Does it Mean to be Happy?
Those who are happiest tend to live significantly longer than those who are not. But what does it really mean to be happy? In the book Fahrenheit 451, author Ray Bradbury’s critiques on the Fahrenheit society suggest that avoiding innermost emotions distracts people from their deeper meaning in life and that genuine happiness can be met by serious thought and reflection; in contrast, while happiness has both a surface level and deeper level, happiness can simply be achieved by being truly content with life in the present moment, finding purpose, and losing the mindset that happiness must be earned.
Bradbury disapproves of the
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Encountering Clarisse McClellan was the major turning point for Montag’s change of perspective when she questioned, “Are you happy?" [Clarisse] "Am I what?"..."Of course I'm happy. What does she think I'm not?" [Montag] (Bradbury 7). Montag goes on to reflect, “He [Montag] was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. 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 9). Readers are able to conclude that “wore his happiness like a mask” means that Montag only expressed surface level happiness, however reflecting on his inner emotions caused him to realize that he is not actually happy. This began Montag’s curiosity on becoming happy, and how exactly he could do that. “Laughter blew across the moon-colored lawn from the house of Clarisse and her father and mother and the uncle who smiled so quietly and so earnestly. Above all, their laughter was relaxed and hearty and not forced in any way, coming from the house that was so brightly lit this late at night while all the other houses were kept to themselves in the darkness”...“thinking he might even tap on their door and whisper, ‘Let me come in. I won’t say anything. I just want to listen. What is it you’re saying?’” (Bradbury …show more content…
However, it can be categorized as being content with your place in life with what you are given. First, in order to know happiness, people have to experience countering emotions. “Happiness is being able to ride the wave of every emotion that life throws at you, knowing that you can come out the other side just a little better than what you were before because you have the skills (focus, courage, curiosity), the resources (a positive mindset), and the support structure (a community) to make that happen” stated Penny Locaso, author of “Hacking Happiness.”Happiness is not just feeling excited and joyful 24/7, it’s more about being confident that everything happens for a reason and knowing that you are strong enough to overcome the bad things that may happen to you. Brock Bastian, a social psychologist at the University of Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, stated, “The danger of feeling that we should avoid our negative experiences is that we respond to them badly when they do arise”...“We have evolved to experience a complex array of emotional states, and about half of these are unpleasant. This is not to say they are less valuable, or that having them detracts from our quality of life”. By escaping negative emotions, we prevent ourselves from learning how to cope with these types of experiences when they do occur, which can be very