Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury, revolves around a society where the government keeps a strict rule that prohibits all people from owning and reading books. Instead, members of society rely on the pleasures of entertainment through technology to get them through life. Rather than putting out fires, firemen are hired to burn down the houses of those caught with possession of a book. One fireman, Guy Montag, liberates himself from the government’s laws by questioning their regulations and acquiring various books of his own. Ray Bradbury highlighted different ideas that make a powerful statement in the novel, including, conformity and individuality, technology, and censorship.
Clarisse McClellan questioned Montag about
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Living in a world filled with television screens that took up entire parlor room and sea shell radios, Montag thought to himself, “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! And expensive too!” (Bradbury, 41). Mildred was a slave to her electronic possessions, succumbing to the luxuries of technologies rather than living a life of her own. These belongings took over her mind, leaving her brainwashed and clueless. Mildred is completely blinded by her adoration for her “family” inside of the television that she seemingly loses her grip on reality, asking Montag, “How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall-TV put in? It’s only two thousand dollars” (Bradbury, 18). Completely immersed in the world of technology, she can now only identify with her three-dimensional family. This causes her to desperately seek to add a fourth wall after having just installed a third wall. One might suggest that she submerges her mind into that of a fictional place in order to be relieved from her duty of being a wife and human being in general. Bradbury writes, “The Mechanical Hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in a dark corner of the firehouse” (Bradbury, 22). This dangerous beast is another example of the role that technology plays in