Theme Of Happiness In Fahrenheit 451

In the book Fahrenheit 451, there is a recurring theme. Ray Bradbury, the author, reveals the theme that people are not necessarily happy, but distracted. This theme is shown throughout the book through characters Montag, Mildred and Captain Beatty. The first way Bradbury shoes this theme is through Montag. Montag, the main character, becomes close to a young lady named Clarisse. Montag saw Clarisse nearly everyday. Unfortunately, Clarisse passed away. Shortly after, Montag found himself unhappy. “He felt his smile slide away, melt fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning to long and now collapsing and now blown out. Darkness. He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself.”(Bradbury 12) Clarisse was Montag's distraction. Her bubbly, young, crazy spirit gave Montag a breathe of fresh air. Without Clarisse's presents however his artificial happiness drifted away. …show more content…
Montag and Millie were married for 10 years. “Happily married” some could argue, however Montag and Millie did not even know how they met. “He lay massaging his eyes, his brow, and the back of his neck slowly. He had both hands over his eyes and applied a steady pressure there as if to crush memory into place. It was suddenly more important than any other thing in a lifetime that he know where he had met Mildred (Bradbury 43). Montag was so occupied with being a firefighter that mildred and his marriage was the least of his concern. Mildred was so hypnotized by the television and what the media was preaching to her that know how she met her husband was unnecessary. The two of them were so wrapped up in other things that they did not remember to be “happily