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The Pursuit Of Happiness In Fahrenheit 451

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The pursuit of happiness is defined as “the fundamental right mentioned in the Declaration of Independence to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy.” The ability to find happiness is a right guaranteed to all citizens in the United States, yet many countries do not possess the same rights as America and instead are plagued by corruption. Procuring contentment is a difficult journey for all people, but those who do not have access to knowledge will find it to be a much more daunting task. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag’s struggle to find joy under an oppressive regime required him to challenge his knowledge in a way he never truly had before. Happiness is analyzed constantly in the real world as well, and the philosophers and scientists who study it consistently link it to knowledge, as shown in the articles by Main, Socrates and in the article about Individualism. By gaining knowledge, a person can find a true sense of happiness due to the fact that contentment is found through intellectual freedom, the capacity to view the world on a deeper level, and the ability to make empowered choices. Oppression commonly is what prohibits a person from obtaining happiness, showing that in order to find joy in life, a person must possess intellectual freedom. The people who live without the ability to think freely are being stripped of the chance to acquire happiness because unfiltered knowledge is what it takes for a person to better themselves and
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