The Tragic Irony of Fahrenheit 451" 'Happiness is important. Fun is everything. Yet I kept sitting there saying to myself: I'm not happy, I'm not happy.' " (70).Fahrenheit 451 is one of Ray Bradbury's most famous novels. Originally published in 1953, it portrays a futuristic world in the midst of nuclear war. The totalitarian government of this future forbids its people from reading books or taking part in any activity that promotes individual thought. The law against reading books is supposedly quite new and the task of destroying books falls to the "fire brigade". One of these firefighters is Guy Montag, the main character of the book. Montag and his crew raid homes, burning any books they find in front of a crowd of onlookers. Regardless, happiness is of paramount importance in this future world. Unfortunately, Montag is dissatisfied with his life for most of the book. Montag's unhappiness is ironic until his self-awareness turns it tragic. The ideal of this future man is to be happy. That's all you want. This idea can be exemplified by the following quotes: "'Happiness is important. Fun is everything' (70)." 'What do we want above all in this country? People want to be happy, don't they? Haven' You haven't heard any talk all my life? I want to be happy, people say. We don't make them move, we don't give them fun, don't we? " (65)." 'We have mobilized a million men. Victory is ours if war comes.' "Ten million men mobilized, but let's say a million is happier" (91). As you can see, the people of this world just want to be happy. They don't care about anything else, like politics or economics. They just want to be happy. At the beginning of the book Montag seems happy. He is seen burning down a house and is having a great time. At one point, he thinks, “It was a pleasure to burn” (19). Soon, he thinks, "he would feel the fiery smile still tight in the muscles of his face, in the darkness" (19). It seems that he is now completely happy with his life. After the house is burned, Montag begins walking home and is greeted by a young girl named Clarisse McClellan..