Fahrenheit 451: Unhappiness and Escape in a Dystopian Society
At the very least, Clarisse awakens in Montag a love and desire to enjoy the simple and innocent things in life. She speaks to him about her delight in letting the rain fall upon her face and into her mouth. Later, Montag, too, turns his head upward into the early November rain in order to catch a mouthful of the cool liquid. In effect, Clarisse, in a very few meetings, exerts a powerful influence on Montag, and he is never able to find happiness in his former life again.
The Illusion of Happiness Through Technology
Yet, if the water imagery of this early scene implies rebirth or regeneration, this imagery is also associated with the artificiality of the people’s lives in the futuristic dystopia of Fahrenheit 451. Each night before she goes to bed, Mildred places small Seashell Radios into her ears, and the music whisks her away from the dreariness of her everyday reality. As Montag lies in bed, the room seems empty because the waves of sound “came in and bore her [Mildred] off on their great tides of sound, floating her, wide-eyed, toward morning.” However, the music that Mildred feels is life-giving actually robs her of the knowledge and meaning of life. She has abandoned reality through her use of these tiny technological wonders that instill mindlessness. The Seashell Radios serve as an escape for Millie because they help her avoid thoughts.
Mildred’s Unhappiness and Suicide Attempt
Although she would never — or could never — admit it, Millie Montag isn’t happy either. Her need for the Seashell Radios in order to sleep is insignificant when measured against her addiction to tranquilizers and sleeping pills. When Millie overdoses on sleeping pills (which Bradbury never fully explains as accidental or suicidal), she is saved by a machine and two machinelike men who don’t care whether she lives or dies. This machine, which pumps out a person’s stomach and replaces blood with a fresh supply, is used to foil up to ten unexplainable suicide attempts a night — a machine that is very telling of the social climate.
The Estrangement Between Montag and Mildred
Montag comes to realize that their inability to discuss the suicide attempt suggests the profound estrangement that exists between them. He discovers that their marriage is in shambles. Neither he nor Millie can remember anything about their past together, and Millie is more interested in her three-wall television family. The TV is another means that Mildred uses to escape reality (and, perhaps, her unhappiness with life and with Montag). She neglects Montag and lavishes her attention instead upon her television relatives. The television family that never says or does anything significant, the high-speed abandon with which she drives their car, and even the overdose of sleeping pills are all indicators for Montag that their life together is meaningless.
The Mechanical Hound and Montag’s Growing Discontent
For Montag, these discoveries are difficult to express; he is only dimly cognizant of his unhappiness — and Millie’s — when he has the first incident with the Mechanical Hound. In some sense, the Hound’s distrust of Montag — its growl — is a barometer of Montag’s growing unhappiness.
Captain Beatty, Conformity, and the Suppression of Knowledge
Captain Beatty intuitively senses Montag’s growing discontent with his life and job. Beatty is an intelligent but ultimately cynical man. He is, paradoxically, well-read and is even willing to allow Montag to have some slight curiosity about what the books contain. However, Beatty, as a defender of the state (one who has compromised his morality for social stability), believes that all intellectual curiosity and hunger for knowledge must be quelled for the good of the state — for conformity. He even allows for the perversion of history as it appears in Firemen of America: “Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the Colonies. First Fireman: Benjamin Franklin. . . ” Beatty can tolerate curiosity about books as long as it doesn’t affect one’s actions. When the curiosity for books begins to affect an individual’s conduct and a person’s ability to conform — as it does Montag’s — the curiosity must be severely punished.