The Happiness Machine Literary Analysis

That which many strive for every day in life is personal happiness. Though the search for happiness may seem fruitless, it remains a constant goal in the hearts of each and every one of us. But, how do we even begin to reach this seemingly impossible goal of pure bliss? Through reading Ray Bradbury’s short and magical tales of childhood, Dandelion Wine, I have come to realize that true happiness is the product of fulfillment. Therefore, when striving for joy, one must realize that it is not material things, nor even what they typically associate with happiness that they are really searching for; it is the feeling of fulfillment.

I learned this lesson in a three-part series within the book titled “The Happiness Machine”. In the series, Leo Auffmann observes the negative and gloomy conversations that he often heard around him. In response to these

Dandelion Wine does not set positivity as merely a goal. Throughout many of the short stories, happiness seems to be the default. Bradbury shows that gaiety can radiate from the fact that we are alive. In his narratives of children, he points out the beauty and wonderful things that happen in life. Some of these things may be as grand as love between two people, but what Bradbury highlights are the things in life that we often look over in our hunt for our ideals of what happiness should be. These things are as simple as our morning coffee, the feeling of rain on our skin, or even just waking up each morning to a new day. In the case of Auffmann, the source of true delight was always with him. He realized that it was his family, which he worked hard to please. Through this realization it’s evident that happiness is not something that can be synthesized, it’s something that we find by looking closely at what we have earned, achieved, and created in our