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Critical Essay On Fahrenheit 451

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Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury portrays a futuristic dystopian society where the “firemen” start fires rather than put them out. The members of this society concentrate only on entertainment, immediate satisfaction, and rush through life. The general theme of modernization and the domination of technology over man cause society to lose sight of the importance of genuine human relationships. The ideals represented in Fahrenheit 415 such as technology and entertainment having full authority over humans has become even more prevalent on today’s society. The people of Fahrenheit 451 fear knowledge, which authorizes the government to have total control over what they do or do not read, watch, and discuss which causes them to be striped of their individualism. A detailed approach to Bradbury’s themes is presented in an article called “The Life Of The Mind And A Life Of Meaning: Reflections On Fahrenheit 451” by Rodney A. Smolla. This article describes how Fahrenheit 451 “still speaks to us, vibrantly and passionately, still …show more content…

The society in Fahrenheit 451 becomes so obsessed and immersed in entertainment that humans begin to lack the ability to convey emotions and appreciate the importance of human interaction. This idea is presented in the novel when Bradbury predicts the future as he describes how people believe that TV can shape a person just as much as human interactions. For example, he states, “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!” (Bradbury 84). The article describes an extremely familiar concept found in both Fahrenheit 451 and today’s society of being unable to find inner peace and a life of mind due to the distractions of mass media (Smolla

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Ray Bradbury 's novel Fahrenheit 451 delineates a society where books and quality information are censored while useless media is consumed daily by the citizens. Through the use of the character Mildred as a foil to contrast the distinct coming of age journey of the protagonist Guy Montag, Bradbury highlights the dangers of ignorance in a totalitarian society as well as the importance of critical thinking. From the beginning of the story, the author automatically epitomizes Mildred as a direct embodiment of the rest of the society: she overdoses, consumes a vast amount of mindless television, and is oblivious to the despotic and manipulative government. Bradbury utilizes Mildred as a symbol of ignorance to emphasize how a population will be devoid of the ability to think critically while living in a totalitarian society. Before Montag meets Clarisse, he is

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