Truth vs Happiness Fahrenheit 451 Essay Example

Truth vs Happiness Fahrenheit 451 Essay Example Truth vs Happiness Fahrenheit 451 Essay Truth vs Happiness Fahrenheit 451 Essay Essay Topic: Fahrenheit 451 Submitted on Wednesday, March 27th Submitted By: William Would you rather be happy in your life and live in ignorance or would you rather live your life with more of a purpose? Even if that purpose means doing things that most people would frown upon. This is one of the conflicts the characters face in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451 is a book about a fireman named Guy Montag. In his society fireman start fires rather than put them out. Most fires started by the firemen are fires in which they burn books.Most books are not allowed and the firemen have to be called to burn them. In this book Montag appears to be a by the book firemen early on but as the book continues you learn he has his doubts about his work and if he is really happy at all with the current life he is living. In Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury believes that it is better to know the truth about your life and live with purpose than to live your life happy in ignorance. In the book Bradbury proves t his in a few ways. One way it did this is when Guy Montag first met Clarrisse and started questioning what was wrong with the society that they lived in at the time.When Montag started to do the same it eventually gave him a new purpose in life and started giving him the ability to have real relationships and actually become happy with his life instead of just being happy in ignorance like most of the other people in the city he lived in. It also opened his eyes to a different world of knowledge and showed him that his old life was a lie. Those are a few examples from the book showing that Ray Bradbury believed it is more important to live your life with purpose than to be happy in ignorance.One way Ray Bradbury showed that knowing the truth about your life is more important than being happy in ignorance is showed by the way Montag’s life completely changed after he discovered the truth about his life. After he realized he was living in ignorance it gave him a new purpose in his life. The event in the book that I believe started this realization is when he was asked â€Å"Are you happy† (15). This is a question Montag is asked by Clarrisse. This simple question really shook Montag up and made him really think about what was going on in his life and made him find out he is actually not appy. After knowing this Montag starts to actually stand up for what he believes in which gives him a new purpose in life. He starts to talk to an old English professor named Faber about almost trying to start a revolution of sorts. â€Å"Plant the books, turn in an alarm and see the firemen’s houses burn† (85). â€Å"That’s the good part of dying; when you have nothing to lose, you run any risk you want† (85). Those are two quotes of Montag talking to Faber. Those quotes are significant because they symbolized Montag becoming a completely changed person.They show that he is serious about standing up for what he believes in now and that h e has found a new purpose in his life. It is the beginning of Montag’s new life and is an example of him no longer living his life in ignorance. That is one way that Ray Bradbury shows that it is more important to know the truth then be happy living in ignorance. Another way Ray Bradbury demonstrated that the truth is more important than being happy living a lie is how his social relationships changed after starting to think about the truth more. It was almost like he was a different person.Instead of continuing to have some pointless conversations like some people had in the book. You really start finding out about all the pointless conversations in the book on page 31 when Clarrisse says â€Å"People don’t talk about anything† She later says â€Å"They name a lot of cars or clothes or swimming pools mostly and say how swell! But they say the same thing and nobody says anything different from anyone else. † (31) After Guy had been talking to Clarrisse fo r a while you begin to realize that she has really changed the way he communicates with people and he begins to start having real conversations with people.An example of this is when on page 29 when Clarrisse asks him a question about children to which he replies â€Å"It was a good question. It has been awhile since anyone cared enough to ask a good question. † Montag’s answer shows that it is something he had never really put a lot of thought into until actually being asked the question by Clarrisse. That is another way that Ray Bradbury showed that it is better to live your life with purpose and know the truth about it rather than be happy in ignorance.The last way Ray Bradbury proved in that it is better to know the truth about your life than live in ignorance in Fahrenheit 451 is how after Montag got a purpose in his live it opened his eyes to a different world and showed him his old life was a lie. He actually started to be happy opposed to just thinking he was h appy while living in ignorance. The first time you realize that Montag started off living in ignorance is after he is asked if he is happy he laughs and says â€Å"Happy! Of all the nonsense, He stopped laughing. 10)† This quote shows that Montag had thought he was happy but actually shows that he was just happy in ignorance. After Montag learns the truth about his life it opens his eyes to a new world of literature. Montag’s lack of knowledge about books is demonstrated when he is talking to Faber on page 85 and says â€Å"Are things like that in books? But it came off the top of my mind. † This is significant because it shows that Montag is willing to learn about books and that some books may open him up to a world outside of the censorship he lives in.As the book goes on and Montag learns the truth about his life his opinions on things change drastically. This is shown when he is talking about leaving Mildred behind in the city and he says â€Å"Even if she dies, I realized a moment age, I don’t think I will feel sad. It isn’t right. Something must be wrong with me. (155)† This quote is significant because it shows that Montag it demonstrates that Montag is a changed man and he wouldn’t feel sad his wife died because he was not happy with his wife or his life prior to learning the truth.In Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury shows that it is more important to know the truth about something than it is to necessarily be happy about it. He demonstrates this by showing that it is more important to live your life with purpose than it is to always be happy in your life. A moral to be learned from this is that it is better to tell people the truth, even if you think that telling the truth might hurt somebody’s feelings. It can be applied to real life in many situations when you have to decide to tell the truth or tell a lie. In the end whoever said â€Å"The truth hurts† wasn’t lying.