Many times while growing up we either think or reminisce about our days at school and think about how boring it was, with the only thought in mind is that we want to go home. What we take for granted though is the privilege we have to live in a society that values education and the open mind. The world without knowledge would be one of misunderstanding and misery, as the infamous book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury describes. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses symbolism through dystopian technology and character to convey the effects of a society that has been devoid of knowledge, thus leading them into a societal norm of depression and suicide. The citizens of the Fahrenheit 451 dystopia heavily depend on immediate and constant “entertainment” …show more content…
Captain Beatty explains this while visiting Montag about Montag’s illness, “School is shortened,discipline relaxed, philosophies, histories, languages dropped, English and spelling gradually ignored. Life is immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies all about after work” (Bradbury 55). This description of the evolution of school in the Fahrenheit 451 world leads us to Montag’s interest in books being seen as an “illness”, something that can be gotten over and overcome. “As an advocate of mass culture, he believes that everyone must be the same and desire the same things. Repetition of the same will, in turn, produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. He understands Montag's attraction for books but claims that he himself overcame it” (Eller). The corrupt government of this world heavily relies on complete control and repetition of what the people see everyday, even the slightest bit of difference in a person can get them killed, Beatty admits that he had these desires to read but got over it and is “perfectly happy’ as is. “The result, Beatty claims, is a peaceful and happy culture. Yet what Beatty calls "peace" and "happiness" translates practically into obedience, which lulls the populace into a blissful sort of ignorance. This is illustrated by the reference to Mildred's suicide attempt as a common phenomenon in the city” (Levine). This lack of awareness in the city has greatly put society under a type of slavery ran by the invisible chains of technology and brainwashing, where suicide is a common occurrence and violence is something to