‘Fahrenheit 451’ and the true meaning of happiness

In Ray Bradbury’s classic futuristic sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451, one of the main characters, a teenage girl by the name of Clarisse McClellan asks the protagonist, Guy Montag, whether or not he is happy. Montag thinks this is a rather odd question and keeps telling himself that he is indeed very “happy,” even though deep down inside, he knows this to be false. In this futuristic world of Bradbury’s, everything is made to make people “happy.” In the novel, happiness is depicted as being constantly entertained by material things, especially by television and radio. Montag’s wife prides herself that she is truly “happy” when all she does every day is sit and watch television programs. We might ask  ourselves, what is true happiness?

In order to determine this, we must make a distinction between pleasure and joy, both words used to describe happiness. Pleasure is false happiness, while joy is true happiness. As we shall see in Fahrenheit 451 the people are seduced by pleasure and not joy. Pleasure is sensual, exterior, opposed to pain, brief, and individual. Whereas joy is spiritual, interior, born of trials, lasting, and communicable. Joy endures and perseveres through suffering. It is shared with others, whether it be through family life, religious life, or even in the generous single life. Most of all, joy is lasting. It endures.

I believe Fahrenheit 451 is a rather frightening example of what can happen to the world around us. In the novel, people are glued to their television screens, can divorce and remarry as many times as they like, and can even overdose on drugs and be brought back to life by machines! In today’s society, the television has been enshrined and worshiped in households, sex is no longer between married spouses but a commodity to be bought and sold, and drugs and alcohol are dangerous means of escapism from the pains of the world. And what do people think? They think that these things truly make them happy when in reality, they do not even know the meaning of happiness. In this life, the pleasures we have are only momentary and fleeting. They are there for a moment and disappear faster than they came, leaving us empty on the inside. What is missing in the lives of those who seek only pleasure and not joy?

In the novel, there is One Thing that I found missing in the lives of each person: God. God is mysteriously missing throughout the novel. This is what is missing not only in Fahrenheit 451 but in our own world today. Deep down, like Montag, we keep fooling ourselves into thinking we are happy and yet truly know that we are not.

God wants everyone to be happy. Happiness has been defined by the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, as the act of contemplating the good we know, love, and possess. True happiness is found in contemplating the good. The greatest good we can contemplate is God Himself. Thus, it is through contemplating God that we can rise above the pleasures of the world and seek the greatest happiness we can obtain: the beatific vision, in which we will contemplate God for all eternity. If we only contemplate and dwell on the pleasures of the world and do not desire true happiness, we will not obtain such a gift. The Catechism explains what we must do: “Desire for true happiness frees man from his immoderate attachment to the goods of this world so that he can find his fulfillment in the vision and beatitude of God.” (CCC 2548)