Happiness, by definition, represents the unique feeling of pleasure and contentment. However, genuine happiness is an intangible feeling, and it is usually interpreted differently by individuals. In the online article The Happiness Conspiracy, the author believes that happiness comes from the interaction of feelings, while the captain Beatty in 451 Fahrenheit asserts that happiness is just the satisfaction we receive.
In the Happiness Conspiracy, the author John F Schumaker argues that the entire socio-economic system is a illusional mirror image, which engrosses everyone to believe that happiness comes from satisfaction. There is an overwhelming amount of different things stuffed in our life, and under such pressure, the purpose of our life “withers to feeling good”(). The unexamined life is not worth living, but judging from an outsider’s perspective, there is no difference between us and pigs in the happiness trough, if the only thing we seek is to feel good. Also, Schumaker points out that despite all the means and efforts individuals manage to attain “happiness” such as, the…show more content… In the world he lives in, anything that might trigger pain is taken away, not by the government but by the society itself. Books, education or even emotion are considered unnecessary and even redundant burdens that hinder the society from advancement. Beatty thinks if everything that might cause pain is taken away, happiness would be the only thing remain. In such a society, the fire men burned the Little Black’s Sambo, because “the colored people don’t like”(page57) it, burned Uncle Tom’s Cabin, because “white people don’t feel good”(page57), and burned “a book on tobacco and cancer” (page57) because “cigarette people are weeping.” (page57) However, by eliminating all the pain and upset, what’s left might only be the eternal emptiness of