Conformity In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

961 Words4 Pages

Society is made of people; it’s made by people. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is entirely about a dystopian society. So the people and characters in the book make up a big part of the meaning of the book, whether they conform or not. They define the message Bradbury is trying to send. Conformity and nonconformity can be represented through these characters in Fahrenheit 451, with Montag and Clarisse as non-conformers, and Mildred and Beatty as conformers. Mildred in the novel, is the main character, Montag’s, wife. She in the novel represents conformity, because that’s exactly what she does. She’s been brainwashed into society’s thinking, or better described as lack of thinking. All she does is watch TV; She doesn’t think for herself and …show more content…

He strongly believes in the way their society works. The difference between him and Mildred is that he enforces the laws and ideas of their society. He goes out of his way to try to make people conform to their society. He lectures Montag about books and how free thinking is bad in many ways, including one time when he says: “What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up, and they turn on you. Others can use them, too, and there you are, lost in the middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives” (Pg 104) Again there, he was reinforcing society’s idea of books being bad and confusing. He doesn’t just conform to society- he destroys other people's books and free thinking. The main character Montag, and his friend for too short of a time, Clarisse are just the …show more content…

As said before, at first Montag conforms to society. He is a fireman, who burns books and goes along with their societies ideal. But when he starts seeing things differently, everything changes all at once. Suddenly he’s finally thinking for himself, he’s looking at things with a new perspective. Burning books is suddenly not the right thing to do. He becomes an individual, instead of doing what he was supposed to. Clarisse Mcclellan helps him realize that being society’s zombie did not make him happy, and books didn’t make him unhappy either. He starts a revolution, to restore books and rejuvenate the world, and I’m pretty sure that's not what his society wants, I’m pretty sure that is definitely him expressing his individuality and meaning. He is one of many characters who make up the novel and the meaning behind