In Fahrenheit 451, happiness is a problematic and elusive concept. For the majority, censorship is the source of happiness because people focus their energies on entertainment and not on the thought-provoking subjects found in books.
But this is not as straightforward as it first appears. Take Mildred, for example. She seeks solace in the 'Family' and the parlor walls, but her suicide attempt in Part One suggests that, deep down, she is miserable. Her reluctance to face this fact also results in her violent death, as imagined by Montag in Part Three, when she realizes the emptiness of her existence:
She saw her own face reflected there...and it was such a wildly empty face...touching nothing, starved and eating of itself.
In contrast, at the beginning of the novel, Montag believes that he is happy because his life appears perfect: he is married, enjoys his job and is financially well-off. But his meeting with Clarisse makes him question this:
He was not happy. He said the words to himself…He wore his happiness like a mask.
In other words, through Montag and Clarisse's relationship, Bradbury is suggesting that happiness is about more than security and materialism. Being happy is about having the freedom to think for yourself and question the world. Without this, we are nothing more than empty robots.
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