How does addiction (drugs, alcohol, television, entertainment, shopping, eating, etc.) relate to mental and emotional health?
In Fahrenheit 451 it is clear that addiction is used as a distraction from the real issues. The government saw that addictions to mindless activities could keep people from the kind of critical thinking that would question the government. If you want to make a connection to this idea using quotes, I suggest you look at quotes that show others’ unwillingness to look at something “unpleasant”, or to us, reality. There are several times that characters purposely avoid or cry out against being made to address reality. Here’s one: Let you alone! That’s all very well, but how can I leave myself alone? We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real? This shows how the main character is starting to realize the distractions that he has filled his life with, and now that he recognizes that, he can’t get it out of his head. He ends up being extremely bothersome to his wife,
