In life, there are things that must be uniform, and others that should be personal. Normally each has a right and a wrong time, but sometimes the concepts can be lost in translation. The book Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, grasps the two concepts of conformity and individualism very well. The ideas are drastically different, but both are based greatly off of personal opinion, or the image that one person thinks is correct. Bradbury outlined exceptional examples of each one in his book, neither being politically correct, but both indeed eye opening. During a time in the world where books are banned, firefighters exist only to start fires, and televisions make up the walls of rooms, only a few people actually choose to have a say …show more content…
This concept isn’t necessarily intentional, “peer pressure can cause conformity… whether this is because people disbelieve the evidence of their own eyes or if it was just compliance, that people hide their opinions” (Shuttleworth). The real life Asch Experiment that took place in 1950 tested first hand how easily it was for a man’s mind to be changed if the other men around him disagreed with his opinion. That is showcased perfectly in Fahrenheit 451 when Montag questioned the other firemen during a simple card game about the original description of their job. When he was told “Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the Colonies. First Fireman: Benjamin Franklin. RULE 1. Answer the alarm swiftly. 2. Start the fire swiftly. 3. Burn everything. 4. Report back to the firehouse immediately. 5. Stand alert for other alarms.” he quickly retracted his argument with no further questions (Bradbury 34-35). Montag had an opinion that contradicted his work mates’, leaving him with the option to support his thoughts or conform to what the others believed. He later discovered that they were wrong, the original job of firefighters was to put out the fires. Feeling like it was the most acceptable thing to do at the time though, he went along with what they were