missing” (82) When thinking of happiness what comes to mind? What makes you
eternally happy? "If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two
sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him
forget there is such a thing as war." (61) With some people it is a food or a person
that makes a person happy, with Montage, It is this very lack of options that leaves
Montag so unhappy. Books may be challenging, but the alternative is a brainless
void – hardly satisfying to the individual. Bradbury might be defining happiness in
Fahrenheit 451 as having a book, reading, and or words of wisdom.
Bradbury shows that having a book gives Montag the satisfaction to live. He
likes having a book to read and reading it whenever he wants. In the beginning
Clarise asks Montag “Are you happy” (10) technically questioning him and this is
where Montag realizes he is not truly happy. Montag then has a lot to say when
people judge books, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” (155) In the beginning Montag
would burn books along with the other firemen. He made a judgment, just as most of
the characters did, that books are bad for you. Therefore, he judged a book by its
cover. In the middle of the story Montag starts to look beyond the covers' of books.
He finally realizes how wonderful a book can be and how much meaning they have
to life. At that point Montag learns not to judge a book by its cover but to truly look
at the lessons that come out of books. In conclusion, "Don't judge a book by its
cover," has a lot meaning because, it shows the troubles that Montag went through
when he judged/burned books that ended up making him truly happy.
The people of the society are scared to be happy, to have a say. The people of the
town don’t actually get what is going on in their lives. Faber says "So now do you see
why books are