Corruption In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

"Quick with the kerosene! Who’s got a match!” (Bradbury 34). Fahrenheit 451 is a story about a society that burns books in favor of television and technology. The book is set in the future with emphasis on efficiency. The protagonist is Guy Montag, who struggles with his identity and how to gain knowledge with books outlawed. There are plenty of themes Ray Bradbury included, but some themes are incredibly pronounced. The two most important themes in Fahrenheit 451 are technology isolates you and that knowledge allows you to see corruption.

How is it shown that a theme in Fahrenheit is that technology isolates you? Bradbury develops this theme through the character Mildred, symbolism of fire and water, the Mechanical Hound, Clarisse’s familial

Montag sums up their relationship by thinking “Well, wasn’t there a wall between him and Mildred, when you came down to it? Literally not just one wall but, so far, three!” (Bradbury 41). Mildred is completely isolated from Montag due to her reliance on technology! Her isolation is also shown in the way she interacts with friends. A normal conversation between them consists of “Doesn’t everyone look nice! Nice. You look fine, Millie! Fine.” (Bradbury 89). Those people are her best friends, but she was never connected to them. She is all alone with nobody to speak to and the only thing for her to do is to watch television. Even her death shows her terrible isolation! The city war bombed by a neighboring nation in an instant, and at that moment Mildred sat by herself in a hotel, “leaning toward the great shimmering walls of color and motion.” (Bradbury 152). From the beginning to the end, Mildred had never been connected with anyone, and because of the sheer amount of technology she used, she was always isolated and alone. Another way Bradbury shows this theme is through the symbolism of fire and water. Fire and heat are the representations

Another important theme in Fahrenheit 451 is that knowledge allows you to see corruption. Bradbury shows this through The Sea of Faith Allusion, the symbolism of mirrors, Montag's internal conflicts, Clarisse’s uncle, and Granger and his group. The Sea of Faith is a poem about a man who originally thought society was grand, but as his perspective changed, he began to see the flaws. It speaks of viewing the “naked shingles of the world,” (Bradbury 96), after gaining an understanding which connects to this theme because their knowledge lets them see the bad and corrupt. It also makes it seem like only the speaker knows, and the rest are “swept with confused alarms” (Bradbury 97) or part of “ignorant armies” (Bradbury 97). This means only the knowledgeable are able to view and understand the corrupt. Another way Bradbury shows knowledge allows the viewing of corruption is through mirrors. Mirrors are a symbol all throughout the book meaning the solution to society, which is to look at yourself and find what is wrong. At the end of the book Granger states that “we’re going to build a mirror factory first and put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them” (Bradbury 157). Granger is a very intelligent person who knows the best for people, and if people were to just look at themselves, they would see the corruption that is infusing their lives. The mirrors would help them gain knowledge