Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

An American writer Ray Bradbury is one of the most famous authors of the 20-21 centuries and one of the most ingenious anti-utopians in the world. In his works, the writer often discusses the topic of the human future and the inevitable degradation of people due to the loss of spirituality.

Bradbury describes heroes living in the city of the future, where reading books is forbidden, and also predicts technical changes and moral problems of society in his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451. The purpose of this essay is to provide a summary of the book, analyze the main characters and the central theme of the paper, and, finally, present a personal opinion about Fahrenheit 451.

The Summary of the Novel

Ray Bradbury wrote his famous, thrilling, and thought-provoking novel in 1953. The impetus for its creation was the burning by the Nazis of books by authors that they disliked. The writer perceived these cruel acts as a personal tragedy and portrayed the experience in his anti-utopian work. Moreover, the novel reflects Bradburys concerns about censorship and conformity during a period when a free expression of ideas could lead to social and economic ostracization.

The future society described in the dystopia receives information from huge television screens, radios, and other distributors of state propaganda. Books that let people think about actions happening around and within society are banned in this world. Any house in which firefighters find books is to be burned. It helps the government subjugate people and eradicate any manifestations of discontent and disagreement. However, very few individuals can see reality as it is, they do not agree with the state, and secretly read books.

The main character of the novel is fireman Guy Montag, who loves the profession and has no doubt in the correctness of his beliefs. His job is to find books and burn them together with the houses of those people who dared to keep them. One day he meets an extraordinary girl Clarisse, who opens his eyes to what is happening in the world. Unconsciously, Montag understands that human communication is more than an exchange of memorized remarks. A meeting with Clarisse makes the protagonist take a fresh look at the life he leads and realize that he is unhappy. Montag has a wife Mildred, a peculiar woman who stares at wall-sized screens all day and does not want to have children. There is no emotional connection and feelings between spouses; they do not understand each other.

Fleeting meetings with Clarisse change Montags mind, he begins to reflect on the correctness of his actions, the situation in the country, and relations with the wife. At work, the main character feels miserable, does not want to burn books, and destroy peoples houses. His whole stereotypical world crumbles, and Clarisse is the only humane person in his life. However, Montague soon finds out that his friend is dead  she has been hit by one of the fast cars. It makes him realize that the time to act has come, and he talks about books to his wife and her girlfriends.

Having no support, he meets Professor Faber, who has long been suspected of reading books. The wife and her girlfriends report on Guy, and firefighters burn his house. To save Faber, who the boss learned about, Montague directs the flamethrower at his boss and the team.

Furthermore, Montag is declared a state criminal, and he has to leave the city. With the help of Faber, he finds people who read books and try to transfer their knowledge to future generations. Concurrently, the country undergoes shock  enemy bombers appear over the city abandoned by the main character. They ruin this miracle of technological thought and start an imminent war. Thus, the writer demonstrates a consumer society that has lost the ability to think independently, analyze what is happening, and also shows the possible results of such life.

The Main Characters and Theme

Guy Montag is the protagonist of the book, a firefighter whose main task is to burn prohibited literature. Montag is not defined in his moral principles; he cannot find an ideal in the socio-cultural values of society. Throughout the book, he radically changes his point of view about his profession, future, and destiny. Mildred is Montags wife and one of the ordinary residents of a metropolis who does not have their own opinion. She obeys modern rules of the society, and her greatest passion is the TV wall. Neighbor Clarissa is a young girl brought up in an extraordinary traditional family with an independent opinion, love to nature, and books. She is the person who makes Guy rethink his actions and change his life.

The central theme of the novel Fahrenheit 451 is the role of a book in human life. Ray Bradbury demonstrates a consumer society that has lost the ability to think independently, analyze, and conclude. Books have useful information from our ancestors, which people should adopt to move forward and avoid the mistakes of the past.

The author discusses such issues as manipulating society through the media, excessive enthusiasm for technological progress, and the replacement of moral values with consumer ones. Bradbury wants to convey a simple idea  the future described in the novel is inevitable if we destroy the previous experience, freedom of thought, art, and the desire to think and learn something new.

Personal Opinion

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is worth reading and thinking about it over at any age. It is likely that through the utopia, the writer shows a world that can be a reality if people refuse to read literature. According to Bradbury, It is a reminder that what we have is valuable, and that sometimes we take what we value for granted.

Moreover, the author proves the need for communicating and creating common family interests. Many people are addicted to their gadgets; they ignore the importance of family relations becoming lonely and insensitive. However, relatives should help in stressful situations, support, and understand each other. Unfortunately, there is no family and love between Guy and Mildred in this novel. They are physically close, but completely alien emotionally to one another.

Conclusion

To sum up, Ray Bradburys science fiction novel introduces readers to the world of a possible near future. A government easily manipulates a society that cannot think and reflect. It is the reason why literature is prohibited by the law of a totalitarian regime, which makes destroy books immediately. It is precisely the future that awaits people if they continue to exist as a rapidly developing consumer society.

Bibliography

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013.

Scott, Alisha Grace. A Comparison of Dystopian Nightmares and Utopian Dreams: Two Paths in Science Fiction Literature That Both Lead to Humanitys Loss of Empathy. Journal of Science Fiction 1, no. 3 (2017): 40-54

Study Guide for Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451. Michigan: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2015.

Y1lmaz, Recep. A Study of The Other in Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451. International Journal of Media Culture and Literature Year 1, no. 2 (2015): 27-44.

Symbols in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Introduction

The second half of the past century was characterized by a blistering rise in the popularity of science fiction. Although this genre actually appeared much earlier, it was this period of time that served as the unique environment in which it was able to evolve and become one of the most popular genres of literature today. Several factors promoted the increased attention given to science fiction. First of all, was the revolution in the sphere of technology. Space flight, the Moon landing, the creation of computers, and other such technological advances obviously impacted peoples mentality and encouraged the appearance of concerns connected with technology. As their previous fantasies came true, people were able to dream about new goals. For this reason, new perspectives appeared, and dreamers started to create completely new stories. However, at the same time, the second half of the 20th century was a complex period characterized by the end of many old traditions, lifestyles, and beliefs caused by significant alterations in international policy, mentalities, world wars, and more. Indeed, the combination of these unique aspects stimulated the development of science fiction and gave rise to a number of stories that are today considered to be classics (Chandler 44). Fahrenheit 451 is one of these stories. The story contains numerous symbols and allusions to the problems peculiar to the modern society which make it a great dystopian novel and help the author to convey his message to people.

Analysis

Ray Bradbury was among the most important authors who managed to impact the genre of science fiction and its evolution greatly. His works are appreciated by the majority of literary critics and are considered a great cultural heritage. Most of the themes and plots used by Bradbury still remain topical and make people think about important issues or problems (Nolan 12). Although there are many sci-fi stories and even chronicles written by this acclaimed author, only a few are especially important for his creativity as well as modern society; Fahrenheit 451 is one of these stories. Many critics consider it to be the greatest Bradbury story of all because of the unique importance of the issues it touches upon, its style, its stylistic devices, and more (Roberts 17).In fact, Fahrenheit 451 is one of the most popular dystopian novels which are recognized by people all over the world. In this story, Bradbury uses a sci-fi setting to discuss problems that were not only topical for the society of that time but for the modern one as well (Bradbury and Weller 34). Bradbury managed to foresee how the future could possibly develop, and his viewpoint is fascinating.

Fahrenheit 451 presents a future American society that lives in accordance with unique laws. Firemen do not fight fires anymore. On the contrary, in fact, their main duty is to set fire to books, which are strongly prohibited as they are said to create conflict. The main character, Guy Montag, is one of these firemen. He has a well-paying job, a wife, and a nice house. However, he is not satisfied with his life and feels some anxiety. Later he meets a teenage girl named Clarissa McClellan, who is completely different from the other people he knows. She also realizes her otherness Im seventeen and Im crazy (Bradbury 12). Meeting her becomes a turning point in his life. Montag understands that his idea about happiness is wrong and one that society has tried to cultivate. Montag has a chain of insights and eventually realizes that books are one of the greatest assets of any society. When he arrives at another fire, he sees a woman who refuses to leave her house and burns with her books. This event impresses Montag greatly, and he starts to collect different volumes. His meeting with Faber speeds up the reconsideration of his value system. When his wife Mildred betrays him, Montag burns his house and Captain Beatty, and then he runs away to meet book lovers in the countryside. Finally, the town dies in an atomic explosion: And the war began and ended in that instant (Bradbury 77). Montag and his new friends go back to create a new society.

Upon reading Fahrenheit 451, it is clear that it is full of different symbols and references such as fire, books, war, reality, etc. which contribute to the appearance of several layers of sense. Thus, while writing the story, Bradbury obviously noted the decreasing popularity of books. At the same time, recent events out of Nazi Germany were still fresh in societys mind (Bertonneau). In fact, the burning of books was one of the aspects of this totalitarian society that destroyed millions of people all over the world. In his book, Bradbury draws a parallel between these events. Indeed, it is no accident that the book ends with a great war and an atomic explosion that kills millions of people and wipes out the previous human civilization. In this way, books can be seen as a great symbol of everything good in humanity. They accumulate knowledge and act as societys conscience, helping people remain themselves and appreciate basic human values. The prohibition of books, then, results in a loss of identity. That is why Clarissa McClellan is the brightest character in the book. She embodies all of the qualities that should be appreciated by human beings, including the hope for a better future. However, she dies. Her death is another symbol introduced by Bradbury to show that this particular society is doomed and that there is no hope for it (LaBrie 31).

As stated above, there are many allusions in this book to the reality in which Bradbury lived. The fact is that at first glance, the society in the book seems happy. Montag lives in a nice and convenient house that is equipped by a number of different devices, the most notable of which are the parlor walls. They are obviously very expensive; however, Mildred insists on buying them as she spends the greater part of her life watching shows. In the parlor walls, one can observe a clear parallel with modern television. Bradbury was able to predict its rapid rise and the overwhelming impact it would have on peoples mentality. Obsessed with it, Mildred notices nothing real in her life and is sure that she is happy. Montags hesitations are not important to her, as there are always new episodes of her favorite show. At the same time, TV does not tell the truth, as there is no news about the war or other threatening events around the world. In such a way, Bradbury reveals the unique power of this new tool and the way it can shape human mentality.

Another important aspect of the book is family and the gradual decline of the importance of this institution. When analyzing Mildred and Guys relationship, it is clear that there is no intimacy between them. The manner in which they communicate, live, and spend time together seems more like distant friends than husband and wife (LaBrie 31). Montag is not able to share his feelings with Mildred as she does not understand his anxiety and thirst for knowledge. It turns out that Clarissa becomes closer to the main character than his wife because only she truly understands him. Finally, Mildreds denunciation reveals the real character of their relationship. Through this action, Bradbury reveals that in a society deprived of any values, true feelings and intimate relations between a man and a woman are impossible. Montags speech to Mrs. Bowles could be considered the embodiment of this idea:

Go home and think of your first husband divorced and your second husband killed in a jet and your third husband blowing his brains out, go home and think of the dozen abortions youve had, go home and think of that and your damn Caesarian sections, too, and your children who hate your guts! Go home and think about how it all happened and what did you ever do to stop it? Go home, go home! (Bradbury 65)

Through these words, Bradbury blames the hedonistic society that prefers to ignore real problems and instead live in an imaginary world with TV shows and no troubles. However, this obsession with TV results in the elimination of the institution of family and a loss of respect to partners.

The world in which Montag lives is very important to understanding the plot and the main message of the novel. At the very beginning of the novel, this society is presented as an ideal place where people are happy. Not accidentally, the book opens with these words: It was a pleasure to burn (Bradbury 1). Montag is satisfied with his job and does not know that firemen used to struggle against fire rather than set it. This shifting role is another bitter irony introduced by Bradbury as the traditional task of firemen is replaced with a new, devastating one that reflects the spirit of society. However, when reading the book, readers realize that there is a war going on that is not noticed by common people. Moreover, the youth of this society is also spoiled, as they have no other entertainment but to race, which is extremely dangerous. Clarissa is an exception, however, and she is an outcast because of her dissidence. Gradually, the readers come to understand that this is a dark and unpleasant world where human beings act like a flock with no individual demands or values (Kollar 11).

Captain Beatty is the embodiment of this world. Asa representative of power, he tries to control peoples lives and keep books from spreading. He knows that firemen used to fight fires and explains this fact to Montag. He also used to be a reader, and there are many books that he managed to read. However, he starts to hate books because of the content. In one of the most important scenes of the novel, Beatty makes Guy burn his own house and then dies, wrapped in flames. Thus, some researchers state that Beatty wants to die (Dolan 14). He provokes Montag by saying, There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, For I am armd so strong in honesty That they pass by me as an idle wind, Which I respect not! Hows that? Go ahead now, you second-hand litterateur, pull the trigger (Bradbury 108). As a public authority, Beatty knows perfectly well how society works and what future it will face. That is why he hates it and at that moment realizes his desire and opportunity to escape. This episode is central to the story as it has a great symbolic meaning. Guy burns his past and rejects this society with its senseless hedonism. He becomes an outcast, but it is a conscious choice that saves his life.

The ending of Fahrenheit 451 is also very symbolic as it demonstrates the fate of this world. Having escaped, Montag meets a group of book lovers and joins them. He realizes that they appreciate real values that come from the books they have known and shared with each other. He has no regrets about his past. He is sure that finally, he has found the right path. To emphasize the great symbolism of the novel and show what future society like that could expect, Bradbury ends the story with an atomic strike that wipes out the city where Montag used to live (Toth 91). There are no longer people like a fireman, Mildred, and her hypocritical friends or things like robotic dogs and parlor walls. They all are swallowed by the fire. However, Faber escapes, which is another symbol as he is the bearer of knowledge and might bring hope to a new society. Montag and his new friends will build a new society in which books are appreciated.

Conclusion

In the end, readers of this story can understand the message that the author is sending and find all symbols and allusions. Bradbury warns people about the great danger that comes from oblivion. If people forget the past and start to burn books again, they will live in a dystopian society doomed to collapse. Using books and fire as main symbols, Fahrenheit 451 demonstrates a joyless future of the world where people are enslaved by television and hedonistic values.

Works Cited

Bertonneau, Thomas. Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451, Political Correctness, and Soft Totalitarianism. The Business Journal, 2009, Web.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. Simon & Schuster, 2012.

Bradbury, Ray, and Sam Weller. Ray Bradbury:The Last Interview: And other Conversations. Melville House, 2014.

Chandler, Lance. A History of Science Fiction: A Brief Introduction to the Genre, the Books, and the Culture that Defines It. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.

Dolan, Kelcy. Bradbury s Guy Montag: An Ontology of Conflict and Fire. Senior Capstone Theses, vol. 12, 2014, pp. 1-23, Web.

Kollar, Dora. Dystopian Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Comparative Analysis of Aldous Huxleys Brave New World and Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451. VDM Verlag, 2008.

LaBrie, Michael. Now Was Then, Then Is Now: The Paradoxical World of Fahrenheit 451. Pell Scholars and Senior Theses, vol. 55, 2010, pp. 1-48, Web.

Nolan, William. Nolan on Bradbury: Sixty Years of Writing about the Master of Science Fiction. Hippocampus Press, 2013.

Roberts, Adam. The History of Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Toth, Michelle.  Bradbury s Message in Fahrenheit 451. Student Publications, vol. 11, 2014, pp. 91-93, Web.

Happiness in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The reason why people live, work, learn, and form relationships all relate to reaching an ideal of happiness, which derives from each persons understanding of what brings them joy. Standardizing it may lead to creating a false sense of peace, as said by Captain Beatty, a structure within which people are not born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal (Bradbury, 2013, p. 55). Thus, the recognition of true happiness, stemming from intellectual labor, as something that misbalances society could be the main idea of Ray Bradburys story.

As a three-chapter novel, Fahrenheit 451 may be reflective of a traditional three-act structure consisting of setup, confrontation, and resolution. In the first chapter Guy Montag, the protagonist finds himself in a position that allows him to recognize the lack of genuine happiness in his life, viewing those around him as uncompassionate and disinterested shades (Bradbury, 2013). After revealing that this process, characterized by illegal book-hoarding, has been long ongoing, the second chapter shows Montag as attempting to defend his rightness, sealing those around him as monsters talking about monsters (Bradbury, 2013, p. 94). Circumstances finally force Montag, who failed to convince anyone around him of his ideas soundness, to both destroy and escape from his home, looking for contentment through finding like-minded individuals (Bradbury, 2013). The main themes, such as self-censorship, government surveillance, and oversaturation with media, tie together with the conception of uniformity in all aspects of life as being inherently damaging.

True happiness value, thus, may be inferred as stemming from dissimilarity and the hardship of its acquirement. Bradbury supports this opinion through the speech of the antagonist, Captain Beatty, who outlines explorers and thinkers as faced with a bestial and lonely feeling, backing the idea of joy as being mass-produced instead (2013, p. 58). This wider-world standoff of intellectuals versus consumers is a potentially continuous process occurring even today, which Bradbury merely codified and exaggerated in the form of dystopian fiction. Thus, the author attempts to outline a broader concept that happiness does not stem from preoccupying oneself with thoughtless media or experiencing life through a screen, which may be television or a preoccupation with work.

The role of society in accruing genuine joy is dual, with the depicted culture repressing and replacing it, while Bradbury himself attempts to convince the reader instead that civilization must stimulate and challenge itself. Clarrise McClellan, the catalyst of Montags soul-searching journey, states that the instilled business of society eliminated the wrong kind of social life, characterized by rocking chairs, gardens, and exchange of ideas (Bradbury, 2013, p. 60). Effectively, the eradication of such a life prompted humankinds overawing through mass media, making new principles, such as complacency, evenness, and extreme sensitivity to the correctness, the redesigned happiness of Fahrenheit 451s society.

By creating a dichotomy, Bradbury pits the proposed ideas against each other, with Guy Montag and the other intellectuals versus Mildred Montag and Captain Beatty, as well as the rest of the unthinking world. The author outlines things that bring happiness as coincidentally ushering in conflict, from non-exact sciences to questions, for example, why (Bradbury, 2013). On the other hand, there are hollow things, such as parlor screens, comic books, and pornography, which do not stimulate thought, but instead aim to placate the average citizen and do not cause positive feelings (Bradbury, 2013). Therefore, diversity, strife, and conflicting ideas bring happiness, which possibly the closing scene of Montag in rough yet thought-stimulating conditions supports.

The dystopian society of Fahrenheit 451 is Bradburys warning of a worse world, defined by hollow interactions and life so fast that there is little time to think about it. Happiness is the opposite of consumerism is a concept that could be a reflection of the modern world, where society perceives intellectualism as a subpar character trait, causing unnecessary conflict among people and their ideas. Therefore, Bradbury urges us to recognize the joy that humankind may uplift from individuals dissimilarities and the progress gained from intellectual exchange as the root and pathway to a happy and idyllic civilization.

Reference

Bradbury, R. (2013). Fahrenheit 451. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Sample Essay

Introduction

Part of the most captivating plots ever written fall in the fiction category. Novels have come to represent the very best of mans imagination. Though most of their content is fictional, books storylines closely reflect the life people lead on the Earth. They seek to portray the good and the bad of the human race within various contexts as the setting permits. One of these books is Fahrenheit 451, a 1953 novel written by Ray Bradbury. This essay is an analysis of Fahrenheit 451, an example of science-fiction masterpiece. The themes, messages, characters, topics, and settings of the novel are explored in the below sections of the paper.

Fahrenheit 451: Book Review

In Fahrenheit 451, a riveting story unfolds through the books storyline featuring a fictional future society, probably the American one, where reading is outlawed, and a ban on reading is imposed. Authorities affect the ban through burning books carried out by firemen.

When reading the novel, it is easy to agree that reading culture and freedom of expression of ones thoughts through reading and writing is under threat of media such as television. Above all, the book reveals that people have become their worst enemies concerning reading and censorship and that the culture of ignorance and carelessness is taking its roots. There is an acute loss of intellectual thought in society.

Reading Fahrenheit 451s provides a perfect revelation of a confused society at war with itself. Guy Montag comes home to find his wife overdosed and a new neighbor who reminds him of the unfulfilling life he leads. Despite participating in books burning, Montag is still not sure why he burns books, as evidenced by his stealing of one of the suicidal womans books.

Montag has a pile of books collected from the victims of book burning carried out by firemen. An argument with his wife about what to do with the stolen books opens Montags eyes, and he realizes his disgust for society. Montag realizes societys pretense of happiness when he reads a poem from one of the stolen books, which makes one of his wifes friends cry despite maintaining a happy life picture throughout her life (Bradbury 23).

The madness of the societys onslaught on itself reaches the epitome when Beatty, Montags chief at work, orders him to burn his house. Probably from all the events, a dispute develops between Montag and the Beatty, the chief fireman. A war situation breaks out, and incineration of cities in the country takes place, a clear reflection of the permeation of confusion in society.

Analysis of Fahrenheit 451s Main Themes

This section of the essay analyzes Fahrenheit 451s themes. This kind of analysis gives the reader the perfect view of the explicit machinations of the state in promoting censorship and the flow of information. It is easy for a reader to see the blatant indictment of censorship as supported by the state. The firemen are on the government payroll, and their work is to impose a ban on books.

Through the book, the current situation in the world concerning censorship comes out. It is easy for any reader to find the current world situation concerning censorship and media gagging through a subtle and close reflection of what the book causes. But even more impressive is the precise reflection of the effects of television on society, especially concerning reading the literature.

One of the exciting insinuations in the book is the portrayal of people as their enemies. There is a blatant disregard of each other among human beings, the culture of alienation mainly fronted by the media.

In Fahrenheit 451, Mildred, Montags wife, is a clear representation of the current world, which is likely to turn into in the future thanks to the media. Mildred and her friends spend most of their time watching television walls in the parlor, intentionally ignoring the problems around them till the issues get out of control. There is the only preoccupation for them, which is the program schedule.

Clarisse helps Montag realize that what he is doing is wrong. Within that context, her character represents the voices of the reason that still exist in the chaotic world, the voices that still question the goings-on in the society despite the different obstacles that exist (Bradbury 47).

Fahrenheit 451 is every readers book with very infectious quoted and thought-provoking imagery, which explicitly puts the role entertainment, especially television, lack of concern for each other, and the casual attitude which has come to characterize the modern world.

The fact that the events occur in America, though fictional, is a stark reminder that repression is through book burning and is a serious event that can take place even in the most advanced society. Any reader will find it very interesting, primarily through the discovery that most of the hatred in the book comes from people themselves.

How does Fahrenheit 451 end? In summary, the novels finale is hopeful. The city has been destroyed by bombs, but the books continue to live in in the book people.

Conclusion

As shown in this essay, Fahrenheit 451 is an example of masterpiece in its genre. The novel is analyzed by the scholars in numerous research papers and book reviews. Fahrenheit 451 gives any reader an opportunity to experience firsthand a 1950s prediction of the world in the 21st century.

People have become slaves to their television sets and the Internet, people dont bother to ask the root cause of all the crises and armed conflicts that have become characteristic of the 21st century, there is an avid promotion of violence which children access through video games; the drug problems are spiraling out of control.

Reading the book provides a deeper understanding of Montag, the main character, and how he represents the average person in the world today. Books burning and city incineration is a symbolic representation of the problems that bedevil the world mainly through entertainment enslavement.

In a nutshell, the book acts as an eye-opener and helps in comparing the current society to the Montags society, where TV reigns as a supreme authority. Additionally, life is fast, and all people tend to think they are happy, while in the real sense, they are not. The real picture of what people are going through comes out through the suicide attempts. It is, therefore, easy to recommend Fahrenheit 451 as the book with the true reflection of the society people live in nowadays.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Sample Essay

Introduction

Part of the most captivating plots ever written fall in the fiction category. Novels have come to represent the very best of mans imagination. Though most of their content is fictional, books storylines closely reflect the life people lead on the Earth. They seek to portray the good and the bad of the human race within various contexts as the setting permits. One of these books is Fahrenheit 451, a 1953 novel written by Ray Bradbury. This essay is an analysis of Fahrenheit 451, an example of science-fiction masterpiece. The themes, messages, characters, topics, and settings of the novel are explored in the below sections of the paper.

Fahrenheit 451: Book Review

In Fahrenheit 451, a riveting story unfolds through the books storyline featuring a fictional future society, probably the American one, where reading is outlawed, and a ban on reading is imposed. Authorities affect the ban through burning books carried out by firemen.

When reading the novel, it is easy to agree that reading culture and freedom of expression of ones thoughts through reading and writing is under threat of media such as television. Above all, the book reveals that people have become their worst enemies concerning reading and censorship and that the culture of ignorance and carelessness is taking its roots. There is an acute loss of intellectual thought in society.

Reading Fahrenheit 451s provides a perfect revelation of a confused society at war with itself. Guy Montag comes home to find his wife overdosed and a new neighbor who reminds him of the unfulfilling life he leads. Despite participating in books burning, Montag is still not sure why he burns books, as evidenced by his stealing of one of the suicidal womans books.

Montag has a pile of books collected from the victims of book burning carried out by firemen. An argument with his wife about what to do with the stolen books opens Montags eyes, and he realizes his disgust for society. Montag realizes societys pretense of happiness when he reads a poem from one of the stolen books, which makes one of his wifes friends cry despite maintaining a happy life picture throughout her life (Bradbury 23).

The madness of the societys onslaught on itself reaches the epitome when Beatty, Montags chief at work, orders him to burn his house. Probably from all the events, a dispute develops between Montag and the Beatty, the chief fireman. A war situation breaks out, and incineration of cities in the country takes place, a clear reflection of the permeation of confusion in society.

Analysis of Fahrenheit 451s Main Themes

This section of the essay analyzes Fahrenheit 451s themes. This kind of analysis gives the reader the perfect view of the explicit machinations of the state in promoting censorship and the flow of information. It is easy for a reader to see the blatant indictment of censorship as supported by the state. The firemen are on the government payroll, and their work is to impose a ban on books.

Through the book, the current situation in the world concerning censorship comes out. It is easy for any reader to find the current world situation concerning censorship and media gagging through a subtle and close reflection of what the book causes. But even more impressive is the precise reflection of the effects of television on society, especially concerning reading the literature.

One of the exciting insinuations in the book is the portrayal of people as their enemies. There is a blatant disregard of each other among human beings, the culture of alienation mainly fronted by the media.

In Fahrenheit 451, Mildred, Montags wife, is a clear representation of the current world, which is likely to turn into in the future thanks to the media. Mildred and her friends spend most of their time watching television walls in the parlor, intentionally ignoring the problems around them till the issues get out of control. There is the only preoccupation for them, which is the program schedule.

Clarisse helps Montag realize that what he is doing is wrong. Within that context, her character represents the voices of the reason that still exist in the chaotic world, the voices that still question the goings-on in the society despite the different obstacles that exist (Bradbury 47).

Fahrenheit 451 is every readers book with very infectious quoted and thought-provoking imagery, which explicitly puts the role entertainment, especially television, lack of concern for each other, and the casual attitude which has come to characterize the modern world.

The fact that the events occur in America, though fictional, is a stark reminder that repression is through book burning and is a serious event that can take place even in the most advanced society. Any reader will find it very interesting, primarily through the discovery that most of the hatred in the book comes from people themselves.

How does Fahrenheit 451 end? In summary, the novels finale is hopeful. The city has been destroyed by bombs, but the books continue to live in in the book people.

Conclusion

As shown in this essay, Fahrenheit 451 is an example of masterpiece in its genre. The novel is analyzed by the scholars in numerous research papers and book reviews. Fahrenheit 451 gives any reader an opportunity to experience firsthand a 1950s prediction of the world in the 21st century.

People have become slaves to their television sets and the Internet, people dont bother to ask the root cause of all the crises and armed conflicts that have become characteristic of the 21st century, there is an avid promotion of violence which children access through video games; the drug problems are spiraling out of control.

Reading the book provides a deeper understanding of Montag, the main character, and how he represents the average person in the world today. Books burning and city incineration is a symbolic representation of the problems that bedevil the world mainly through entertainment enslavement.

In a nutshell, the book acts as an eye-opener and helps in comparing the current society to the Montags society, where TV reigns as a supreme authority. Additionally, life is fast, and all people tend to think they are happy, while in the real sense, they are not. The real picture of what people are going through comes out through the suicide attempts. It is, therefore, easy to recommend Fahrenheit 451 as the book with the true reflection of the society people live in nowadays.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: Censorship’s Perilous Grip on Society

Montag’s Transformation: From Blindness to Enlightenment

In the literary work Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the reader is introduced to an interesting society that’s much different from the society and world we live in today. At the beginning of the novel, the main character, Guy Montag, is lost and confused about his life; however, he eventually comes to realize that he is basically living a lie and wants to really figure out the world around him, along with becoming truly happy. A lesson the main character learned is how too much censorship is very negative and damaging for a society/population and that it’s the government’s way of controlling citizens.

The character starts off as brainwashed like most of his peers but later becomes more curious and thoughtful after he realizes he doesn’t truly know the world around him and how immoral the censorship in his life is. It is apparent that at the beginning of the novel, Montag realizes he is lost in life. As mentioned on page 12, “He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs.

He wore his happiness like a mask, and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask, and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back.” It is clear that Montag always thought he was happy, but then, when he actually thinks about it, he really isn’t happy at all. This demonstrates how the society he lives in is very sad and messed up due to censorship because, like Montag, the rest of the people in his society are also truly sad or angry underneath but are brainwashed into thinking they are actually happy people.

Bradbury’s Plea: Cherishing Freedom over Control

Understanding what happened to Guy Montag makes me realize that a lot of people in our society take freedom for granted, and we need to start being more grateful for the freedom and knowledge we are provided with in life. People these days seem to complain and constantly want more and more all the time, but we don’t even have it that bad, and I believe some people just need to come to a realization that life isn’t that bad. In conclusion, the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is trying to teach us that censorship is damaging to society and blinds people from the real truth about themselves and their lives.

References

Bradbury, R. (1953). Fahrenheit 451. Ballantine Books.

Bradbury’s Fahrenheit-451: Predicting Today’s Reality

Media Censorship’s Stark Forecast

Fahrenheit 451 is a classic novel written by Ray Bradbury, whose main focus in this piece is warning those who read it of the censorship of media and prediction literature. Science fiction, in its early stages, was based around the idea of forbidden knowledge being discovered and then bringing destruction and chaos to the world of man and to the environment, and it still does today, but it has vastly improved since then. It has expanded into what Fahrenheit 451 can now be seen as today. These next predictions will prove that we should be concerned about what becomes of media being censored and how extensive this problem will become.

Bradbury’s Tech: Earbuds to Bluetooth

Many of the predictions Ray Bradbury has made have come out to be very close to the truth in our society today, and many have been proven to be coming true throughout the time it took him to write and publish this novel. But if you look closely at the number of correct predictions and compare them to the incorrect predictions, you will notice there is an exceeding number of correct predictions than incorrect predictions. Therefore, many of these have been proven true or as close as they could get to the truth.

During his writings of the early stages of when this novel was called “The Fire Man” and was now considered science fiction, he saw something like the Seashell that Mildred used throughout the novel in Beverly Hills on one of his walks. A woman was holding a small radio with cone-like earbuds, walking in a sleepwalk-like state, ignoring both her husband and dog. Ray Bradbury was now racing against science to show his predictions were coming true before it was too late. In the book, Bradbury describes Mildred listening to music and commercials using a wireless radio embedded in her ear. When the book was being made, radios were being made, but earbuds were not yet wireless.

Today, wireless connections between devices have been used in more than just simple earbuds. Today, cars use Bluetooth to connect to your music apps, contacts, text messages, and more. Many cars can install Bluetooth radios, such as my family’s Mazda CX9, which does just that. Recently, when picking up my brothers from school, I heard a radio commercial describing fire alarms that “speak” to each other wirelessly so that when one goes off, so do the rest. Many of today’s speakers can now be portable, wireless, and will fit in the palm of your hand. Many of the bigger companies, such as Apple, Roku, and many others. Some may argue otherwise, but today, in the year 2019, wireless earbuds and portable speakers have been around way before the beginning of the year, just as he had predicted.

Rapid Media Consumption’s Rise

Adding to that, the prediction of media popping up in unexpected places and being short and condensed has indeed come true. Billboards, although not hundreds of feet long like in the story, that have ads have been placed in many more places than predicted. They have popped up in more than just subways and gas stations, but have also found their way into stores school billboards, and have expanded all over the media. As predicted, ads have become shorter and more condensed and have been added to all sorts of programs. Live TV, talk shows, podcasts, radio stations, videos, and anything digital have been stuffed full of ads that can now go from one minute to thirty seconds. Back then, commercials could go on from fifteen to thirty minutes per commercial.

War Predictions: Accuracy Assessed

Another thing that he predicted was that war would be constantly practiced and supported by the government. In the book, he describes bombers as constantly flying overhead in practice for war. He was correct about the predictions of warplanes flying overhead when practicing for war. I saw many fly over my middle school through sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, but he also mentioned that they would go at five thousand miles per hour, which is not true.

The fastest manned bomber aircraft known today would be the North American X-15, which has a top speed of Mach 6.70, which is about 7,200 km/h. Not 5,000 mph, for sure. Another thing he got wrong was that remote-controlled craft would be all piloted without a pilot using a long-distance remote. Today, remote-controlled technology is being perfected but not used in large numbers. Today, remotely controlled drones are growing in mass numbers and are even predicted to be used for more than just cameras and toys, but they are still not as advanced as remote-controlled helicopters. The military has designed a few remote-controlled aircraft vehicles, but they are not yet perfected and not yet widespread.

Despite all this, the military has been constantly improving both during and in the absence of war. Our current government has been focussing on the military and improving military technology, but unlike in Fahrenheit 451, we have not fought in two atomic wars and won before the year 2019, as Bradbury stated. Many have joked in the past four to five years that we may start a nuclear war with Korea, but these are just rumors spread to upset people. Today, the production of nuclear weapons has been canceled and illegal to do for many years. The last nuclear weapon used in war was on August 6, 1945, when the U.S. was hitting the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima with atomic raids during the final stages of World War Two. Not a single atomic war after that, and for a good reason, too.

Work in Bradbury’s Lens: Long Hours, Low Pay

Another thing that Bradbury predicted correctly was that work hours would become longer and the pay would grow smaller. People are doing full-time jobs and are becoming sleep-deprived to the point that it physically ails them, and they have to take pills to sleep. Companies want to squeeze out as many hours as they can as cheaply as they can. Today, we have replaced buttons with zippers and shoelaces with velcro to make things go faster, either to have more time to work or for leisure. Nobody enjoys work anymore, just as predicted, and can’t wait to get home and do as they please. People’s patience is shorter now, and things are shorter and more condensed to keep their attention and avoid losing them.

Life becomes immediate, and people’s attention is only a few seconds long as media becomes faster and easier to take in. Research for school projects used to take hours or days of work and searching to find, but now it only takes a few seconds and a couple of clicks and scrolls of the mouse. Today, media has changed to where it is portable and can operate faster than the eye can blink. It has been scientifically proven that technology today makes us forget things easily. So the prediction that we could recite a book word for word after only reading once is definitely not true, but the prediction that someone could accidentally take too many sleeping tablets is possible, but not yet true. So, the prediction that technology can make one’s memory lessen is true.

In my opinion, all these predictions suggest that we may have to worry about all of this now and many years ahead of us. Technology today and the thirst for power have become bigger and stronger, and this suggests that some of those situations in such a future would come soon, maybe in a few years or even a couple of decades. Ray Bradbury had his share of false predictions, but he also had a good number of true ones. Therefore, his work should be kept in mind to prepare for the near future.

References

  1. Bradbury, R. (1953). Fahrenheit 451. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
  2. Johnson, M. (2015). Science Fiction: Evolution and Predictions. London, UK: SF Publishing.

Fahrenheit 451: From Ignorance to Enlightenment

Montag’s Journey: A Fireman’s Revelation in Fahrenheit 451

When someone tries to fix one thing, another thing can get ruined. In the science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, one individual attempts to change society’s perspective on the idea of censoring books. This was an action that turned into a disaster. In the story, a fireman named Guy Montag can’t stand going to work every day to burn books. He decided to quit his job, read many books, and share his knowledge with the society he lives in. The social order Bradbury creates in this novel is one that depends on technology and materialistic items, but the citizens cannot realize that the importance of thought, peace, and happiness is what they really need in their daily lives.

At some point in the book, Montag begins to understand that books provide a source of knowledge that he was denied. On page 49, Montag starts looking back on everything he’s done and starts feeling remorseful and possibly a little guilty. In the book, Bradbury states, ‘Last night, I thought about all the kerosene I’ve used in the past ten years. And I thought about books. And for the first time, I realized that a man was behind each one of the books. A man had to think them up. A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper. And I’d never even thought that thought before.” This information illustrates the fact that Montag is starting to realize that his society may not be as perfect as it seems, and he never thought about it until now.

Defying Censorship: Montag’s Challenge in Fahrenheit 451

Although he is a fireman, Montag questions their role in society as judges of other people. Guy Montag first enjoys his job. Montag’s father and grandfather were both firefighters, and he seemed pleased to continue the family tradition. But then everything shifts when he discovers Clarisse. She made him question whether he was happy or not.” ‘Are you happy?’ she said. ‘Am I what?’ he cried. But she was running in the moonlight. Her front door shut gently.” This makes Montag realize that his life is a metaphor for the society he lives in, which is empty and limited. He recognizes that he is destroying the foundations of cognition and human understanding. Montag is bored with his job and begins stealing books that are supposed to be burned.

Montag knows that the books are somehow unlawful but chooses to try and spread the knowledge. Montag takes a significant risk when he takes out all the books he’s kept hidden and shows them to Mildred. Even knowing that having and keeping the books could put a strain on their marriage and lead to consequences, Montag does it hoping to change Mildred’s perspective on books. His end goal is possibly to make her see society the way he does now.

References

Bradbury, R. (1953). Fahrenheit 451. Ballantine Books.

Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”: Technology’s Totalitarian Tether

Bradbury’s Exploration of Oppression in “Fahrenheit 451”

Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, originally published in 1953, is a dystopian novel that imagines a world in which the prevalence of television and audiovisual media of all kinds has become a means of oppression. The written book has been banned, and with this taboo comes a number of various consequences. In part, the banning of the book helps to reinforce the compulsion to watch television and media prescribed by the government.

Society’s Control by Technology and Governance

In this essay, I will examine how Bradbury depicts in this way a society controlled as much by its technology as by its governing body. The government uses technology to enforce a totalitarian regime on the imagined society, controlling its subjects by gorging them on fast-paced and often meaningless information and indoctrinating people against creativity and intellectualism.

In order to demonstrate this thesis, I will look at a number of different elements of the text, including the importance of the distinction between natural and unnatural objects in the text, the destruction of the individual, the storage and power of information, the distortion of truth and the indoctrination of the collective. Through each of these themes, it will become clear that this text depicts the totalitarian rule of a culture that is controlled by technology. Furthermore, I will show how Bradbury uses technology to underpin fears of violence with more subtle forms of control through the use of information technology.

Human Disconnection from Nature

The first of these themes to be explored, and possibly the most prominent in the text, is that of the natural. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury contrasts natural with unnatural imagery in order to show how humanity prevails despite technology, but also how technology serves to corrupt and even obscure the presence of nature in society. For example, in one of Clarisse’s early interactions with Montag, she says, “Bet I know something else you don’t. There’s dew on the grass in the morning”. Bradbury then writes that Montag’s response to this is that “he suddenly couldn’t remember if he had known this or not, and it made him quite irritable.”

As Montag serves, at the beginning of the text, as a prime example of how this society has corrupted individuals, this total lack of knowledge of the natural world serves to show the extent to which society has become disconnected from nature. This passage also serves the double purpose of demonstrating how this further affects people’s sense of understanding. Not only does Montag probably know nothing of the dew on the grass, but he “couldn’t remember if he had known this.”

Power Dynamics through Information Exchange

This shows that the prescribed necessity of technology has disconnected humans from nature to the extent that not only are people unaware of the world around them, but they no longer have the capacity to be aware of what they are aware of. Information technology has essentially begun to replace even personal memory, allowing the government to take control, through the use of technology, of how these memories are replaced and supplemented by the information being constantly supplied externally. Speaking to the disjunction between the natural and unnatural in Fahrenheit 451, McGivern notes that “Throughout Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury uses the imagery of hands, making them significant reflectors of conscience.” In this way, the emphasis is placed back on bodies and the natural human state in how decisions are made and how people act rather than on the information produced by the government and relayed through machines.

A Clash: Individual vs. Collective Identity

Indeed, it is this very conflict between the natural and the unnatural in Fahrenheit 451 that demonstrates and ignites the conflict between the individual and the collective. Throughout the text, the totalitarian government regime imposes through technology an ideology that effectively seeks to undermine the existence of the free-thinking individual. As Adorno and Horkheimer observe, “Human beings are made identical to one another through isolation within the compulsively controlled collectivity.” This erasure of the individual reflects the erasure of knowledge: just as individuals are made part of a collective system and thereby obscured, knowledge is not eradicated by a lack but rather a superfluence of information.

This ideological erasure of the individual is epitomized by the reasoning of the regime: “We must all be alike. Not everyone is born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone is made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against.” In this way, the individual is eradicated by its sameness to every other.

Reevaluating Reality and Truth in a Dystopian Society

Bradbury takes this further by also making the individual responsible for the discipline that takes place in society. This applies both to the presence of informants throughout the text – individuals willing to betray even their closest friends and family for the sake of the regime, as often occurs under totalitarian rule – and also to the willingness of individuals to surrender themselves for transgressions. The most poignant example of this is Faber, the scholar who first helps Montag with learning to engage with books and appreciate their value. Having clearly and irreparably revealed his true loyalties to Montag, Faber makes no attempt to protect himself from the totalitarian sense of discipline but instead makes a kind of understated sacrifice of himself to it. Bradbury writes, “Faber, with a certain trembling, wrote his address on a slip of paper. ‘For your file,’ he said, ‘in case you decide to be angry with me.’”

By offering his address in this way, Faber is making clear the fact that despite literally rebelling against the rules of the regime, he is in no way an archetypal rebel. The fact that it is written information that he offers is also symbolic of the way that information is transactional in the book and, further, how it represents the transference of power. This is emphasized by the fact that “the firemen are rarely necessary. The public stopped reading of its own accord” because “people are having fun.” This self-condemnation shows how information technology is used to distract people from reality and control their understanding of reality, a subject that will be returned later in this essay.

The Role of Cities in Dystopian Narratives

In order to understand how information is used to wield power in Fahrenheit 451, it is worth noting how the text works in the context of the city narrative. Indeed, many – if not most – dystopian fiction take place in heavily populated areas. This is particularly significant for Bradbury’s text, as the extreme sense of interconnectivity, collectivity, and anonymity in a city context combine to highlight and exaggerate the effects of technology. Bradbury himself offers an analogy that may be of use here, as he cites the legend of Hercules and Antaeus, “whose strength was incredible so long as he stood firmly on the earth… when he was held, rootless, in mid-air, by Hercules, he perished easily.” In the same way, as technology creates a sense of rootlessness by removing humans from the natural, so too does the city context suspend the collective “rootless, in mid-air,” as the urban culture removes people from nature.

The Overwhelming Effects of Technology on Society

The similarities between the effects of the city and the effects of technology are also seen in the intense relay of information offered by both. Simmel noted that “the mental life of city dwellers features an intensification of nervous stimulation, denied the beauty of nature or such minimal human consolations as simple politeness and neighborliness.” Both aspects of this can be seen to be exacerbated under the totalitarian regime of Fahrenheit 451. The “intensification of nervous stimulation,” in particular, is a prevalent feature of the technology used to control society in the text. Technology pervades every aspect of personal and public life, with streams of information even being used as a way of boring oneself to sleep. The implication of this is that nervous stimulation is being overused to the extent at which it begins to numb, rather than stimulate, the senses.

This kind of attitude to overstimulation can be seen in the superfluous culture described throughout the book. For example, this is shown in the passage, “More sports for everyone, group spirit, fun, and you don’t have to think, eh? Organize and organize and super organize super-super sports. More cartoons in books. More pictures. The mind drinks less and less. Impatience. Highways are full of crowds going somewhere, somewhere, nowhere, nowhere.” This epitomizes the effect of technology on the human psyche. The first sentence itself encapsulates this experience.

The superfluous, unspecified “more” shows the hungry consumer culture that demands overstimulation, while the emphasis on “group spirit” describes the process of becoming a collective rather than individual culture. Furthermore, the word “fun” is ironically used as it denotes distraction rather than freedom. The phrase “and you don’t have to think” is self-explanatory, as technology provides so much information that the mind is proven to be redundant, but the ensuing “eh?” is particularly poignant as it demands agreement more than opinion. The phrase “you don’t have to think, eh?” implies a passive response, providing ‘fact’ and assuming that the information will be understood and absorbed.

Information Control: Power, Creativity, and Memory in “Fahrenheit 451”

In this way, the transference of information acts as a symbol of the transference of power throughout the novel. Not only does technology serve to eradicate free-thinking, as explained above, but the elimination of books removes creative and intellectual power. Book burning has been described as “the control of ideas by the destruction of knowledge,” showing how the burning of books, as such a central theme of Fahrenheit 451, is representative of the controlling nature of the regime. Furthermore, it is not only a question of the existence of knowledge but of its storage.

While technological storage of information is permitted, books are not. This restricts the sense of creativity in the novel and removes much of the intellectual aspect of reading and writing, as it appears that informational transactions become more a means for immediate communication than storage. The idea of stored information in books also implies the opportunity to dwell and ruminate upon what lies inside, while the overstimulation of technology does not allow for this.

Perception of Truth: Books vs. Technology in “Fahrenheit 451”

Wherever the transaction of knowledge or information is involved, it is important to ask who controls this information and, further, what their power then becomes over reality. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury repeatedly comes back to the idea of truth and reality, interrogating instances of supposed reality and confronting his characters with different possibilities of truth. For example, it is worth noting that one of the major arguments for the banning of books in this society is that they are deemed untrue. Mildred says, “The books say nothing! Nothing you can teach or believe. They’re about non-existent people, figments of imagination if they’re fiction. And if they’re no-fiction, it’s worse, one professor calling another an idiot, one philosopher screaming down another’s gullet. You come away lost.”

This critique of books is clearly one that has been planted in the minds of collective society by the government and offers only one possible truth. The troubling nature of the ban is not essentially this argument behind it – that books are either untrue or combative – but the fact that this argument is used to restrict the ability of individuals to disagree. By banning works of fiction, creativity is restricted, while the ability to argue or hold an opinion of one’s own is hindered by the elimination of non-fiction.

What is also troubling, then, is how the function of books in society is replaced by prescriptive technology. Again, arguing why books are misleading – and indeed, immoral – objects, it is argued that “You can shut them, say, ‘Hold on a moment’… But who has ever torn himself from the claw that encloses you when you drop a seed in a TV parlor? It grows you any shape it wishes! It is an environment as real as the world. It becomes and is the truth. Books can be beaten down by reason.”

Reality’s Distortion: Books, Technology, and Agency in “Fahrenheit 451”

In this way, Bradbury supposes that books, which are obviously and acceptably non-reality, are being supplanted by technology, which can approximate reality. While the indoctrinated argument here is clearly saying that detaching oneself from a book and reasoning with it is not beneficial, it should rather be noted that the exercise of reason is crucial to developing individuality and interrogating opinions for bias. Instead, Fahrenheit 451 offers a passive solution in which one is melded to a non-reality to the extent that it becomes a reality, blurring the lines between truth and fiction far more than a book ever could. Rather than being more true, this is arguably only more dangerous, as people lack the capacity to reason with technology such as this.

This danger is exemplified by the moment in which Montag, while on the run, experiences his own escape as though it is both real and unreal, as it is televised, and he experiences it through the medium of technology as well as with his own natural senses. Bradbury writes, “With an effort, Montag reminded himself again that this was no fictional episode to be watched on his run to the river. It was in actuality his own chess game he was witnessing, move by move.” Ironically, even upon this reminder that this is Montag’s own experience, Montag still describes his flight in terms of a “game” that he is “witnessing,” implying both distraction and a total lack of agency in this experience, due directly to overexposure to realistic fabrications of reality.

In reading Fahrenheit 451 in the current era, it is worth also briefly noting the importance of the resurgence of dystopian fiction. In what has been described as a “post-factual” world (Rodden), the relevance of technology to provide information – real or otherwise – is once again at the fore of society. The detachment between the natural and unnatural, the individual and collective, and the real and unreal all serve to provide a fractured image of society in which creative and intellectual thought has been abandoned. It is made clear throughout the text that this serves the purpose of a totalitarian government using overexposure to information to numb and collectivize its subjects in much the same way as other totalitarian regimes have used violence and fear.

References

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. Ballantine Books, 1953.

“Fahrenheit 451”: Dystopia’s Grip & Montag’s Defiance

Burning Books: Society’s Disturbing Standard

Dystopia is “a world in which everything is imperfect, and everything goes terribly wrong.” Fahrenheit 451’s society is living in this type of world, and it is very different from the society that we live in today. In Fahrenheit 451, firemen burn both books and the houses that contain them. People are no longer defined by their emotions and actually seem to exist without them, and being different from everyone is unusual. A fireman in Fahrenheit 451 named Guy Montag is living to the standards that the government had set for them. The standards affect Montag heavily and force him to respond.

One of the standards is that people are not allowed to own and read books. If someone owns a book, their home and the books are set on fire. This standard affects Montag in many ways. When Montag met Clarisse McClellan, Montag’s new cheerful teenage neighbor, he began to question if his happiness was real. Clarisse causes Montag to develop his curiosity by telling him about the past and helping him discover the real happiness that he hasn’t experienced in his life for quite some time. Montag realizes that he must change when he sees an old woman who chooses to burn her books because she loves her books and when Mildred tells him that the McClellan moved because Clarisses died in an accident.

Montag vs. The Norm: From Ignorance to Awakening

Another standard that is set by the government for society is that people value entertainment over all things. Montag is affected by this standard because of her wife, Mildred. Montag does not really know much about his wife. All he knows about her is that she is fascinated by the deceptive pictures on the TV. They don’t really know anything about each other and their past. Mildred is more fascinated by her three-wall TV than Montag and their relationship. She uses the TV as an escape from reality. Montag’s discoveries about his meaningless relationship with Mildred are hard for him to express.

In Montag’s society, being different is counted as threatening to society. When he made his realization about changing his life, he asked Faber to help him understand books. Montag tries to help Mildred and her friends to see the reality, but he fails. After a while, Mildred, his own wife, turned on the fire alarm, to which Beatty ordered Montag to burn his own house, but he refused to do it. He turns a fire liquid to Beatty, which causes him to collapse. After that, Montag becomes a criminal. He is now the enemy of everyone and wanted. Now, Montag must escape in order to not be punished for not obeying the laws in his society.

In conclusion, Fahrenheit 451’s society is living in a dystopia, and a fireman named Montag is affected by the standards that the government has set out for them. Some standards have a book that is extremely prohibited, and it must be burned if you get caught having it, including your house. People value entertainment more than other things, and being different is putting your life in a dangerous position.

References

  1. Adams, J. (2017). Understanding Dystopia: Origins and Manifestations. Oxford University Press.