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The Relationship Between Happiness and Freedom in Fahrenheit 451 and Brave

New World

Serkan Kasapoğlu, TR 111.01

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury, 1953) and Brave New World (Aldous Huxley, 1932) are

dystopian novels presenting probable futuristic societies. The notion of happiness plays a

particularly important role in both novels. Throughout the human history, there has always been a

pursue of happiness. There are several necessities to achieve happiness; freedom is one of them.

Even though the terms freedom and happiness have no clear definitions, one of the quotes of

Frank Tyger is useful to define them: “Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is

happiness.” Looking from this point of view, one can easily correlate these terms and accept the

necessity of freedom to be happy. As Guy Montag -the protagonist of the Fahrenheit 451- says,

“We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. Something’s missing.”

(Bradbury, 78) Even if people have everything they need, without freedom, they cannot be

happy.

Firstly, Fahrenheit 451 begins with a gloomy, gray atmosphere. Readers can easily understand

that, living under a dictatorship in the name of democracy, the people in that society are not

happy. The notion of happiness in the book starts with this basic question of Clarissa to Montag:

“Are you happy?” (Bradbury, 7) This question means a lot for the context of the book because it

raises the consciousness of Montag, brings him into doubt, and makes him interrogate his life.

The main thing is that the people are not even aware that they are unhappy because they are

manipulated by methods that restrain their critical thinking. This manipulation is a violation of
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freedom. Due to not being free, people are not allowed to learn about the things that can pose

threat. These things are the alternative lives. If people are allowed to learn about alternative lives,

they can be able to interpret the society they live in. If they decide that the alternative lives are

better than their life, they can start interrogating their socio-political conditions and rights. This

interrogation is the main cause of most reforms and revolutions which aim to bring happiness. In

the book, there is a statement that describes the unconsciousness of people about their emotional

situation and alternative better lives:

He was not happy. . . . He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his

happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there

was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back. (Bradbury, 9)

Another example is the words of Montag: “I want to hold onto this funny thing. God, it’s gotten

big on me. I don’t know what that is. I’m so damned unhappy. I’m so mad, and I don’t know

why.” (Bradbury, 61) This mental crisis and unhappiness of him are because of realizing

alternative better lives and feeling the absence of freedom. On the contrary, through the end of

the book, when Montag reaches the railroad -the freedom-, the reader can get the feeling of relief

and happiness:

He stood up breathing, and the more he breathed the land in, the more he was filled up

with all the details of the land. He was not empty. There was more than enough here to fill

him. There would always be more than enough. (Bradbury, 138)

“The land” here refers to the freedom. The more he breathes the freedom in, the more he fills up

with all the details of happiness. “The emptiness” is what the author was talking about with “the

missing part” from the beginning of the book. Now this part is completed; he is not empty.
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Furthermore, there is also an example of this manipulation from today’s world: Cuba. Cuban

people are considered as one of the happiest people of the world, but their “fake happiness”

results mostly from the manipulation they are exposed to. Cuba is isolated from the world in the

aspects of politics and communication. The internet usage in the country is low because the

internet is limited, censored, and expensive. There are Committees for the Defense of the

Revolution which monitor every person and prevent them from doing something that is

considered as a threat. These restrictions and controls of individual freedom hinder the people

from being aware of the alternative better lives. Therefore, Cuban people think they live under

good conditions despite poverty and all the violations of human rights. Another way of

manipulating people is to make them believe that other people live in worse conditions. In the

book, Montag says,

Is it because we’re so rich and the rest of the world so poor and we just don’t care if they

are? I’ve heard rumors; the world is starving, but we’re well fed. Is it true, the world

works hard and we play? (Bradbury, 69)

Secondly, in Brave New World, the situation is different. There are violations of freedom from

birth to death. To exemplify the violations, the intended use of genetic engineering,

brainwashing, drug using, and classifying people randomly can be the most general ones. People

are not given the chance to choose how to live and even what to like. The Director -one of the

characters in the book- defines happiness similar to the definition of Tyger’s:

And that, that is the secret of happiness and virtue – liking what you’ve got to do. All

conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny. (Huxley,

12)
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People are said to be happy, but their happiness is fake and artificial. There are some people who

consider the book as an utopia. They do not take into consideration the reality of happiness; they

argue that if people of a society is “just” happy, then the book cannot be a dystopia. In this case,

the words of John the Savage -one of the protagonists of the book- are significant: “Well, I’d

rather be unhappy than have the sort of false, lying happiness you were having here.” (Huxley,

156) The violations of freedom are better seen in this dystopian society than Fahrenheit 451’s.

Besides not being able to learn about things that can pose threats, people also cannot have a

continuous sexual or emotional relationship with the same person; they cannot have families or

children. With all these restrictions, it is impossible to develop a truly happy society.

In addition to methods of manipulations, there are two types of being unconscious about

emotional situation. The first is being unaware of the existence of the notion of happiness. This

type of unconsciousness is clearly seen in Fahrenheit 451. When Clarissa asks Montag whether

he is happy or not, Montag asks, “Am I what?” (Bradbury, 7) It means Montag is not even aware

of the existence of the notion of happiness, but he feels the absence of it deep inside of him. He

continues, “Happy! Of all the nonsense.” (Bradbury, 7) The second is feeling the “illusion” of

happiness; in other words, they think they are happy, but their happiness is fake. Those people are

commanded, manipulated, or even obliged to feel happy. “Happiness is a hard master –

particularly other people’s happiness. A much harder master, if one isn’t conditioned to accept it

unquestionably, than truth.” (Huxley, 200)

To conclude with, in today’s world, it is clear to see in most researches that the happiest people -

the true happiness- are the ones living in the most liberal countries such as Norway, Denmark,

Australia, Canada… Actually, we do not have to look from a wide perspective to see the
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necessity of freedom to be happy; we can just think about the people with whom we are happy

and why with them. Why does Montag feels disturbed when he is with Beatty and at ease with

Faber? Because the secret of happiness is freedom.

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