Fahrenheit 451 Compared To Today

“And then he was a shrieking blaze, a jumping, sprawling gibbering manikin, no longer human or known, all writhing flame on the lawn as Montag shot one continuous pulse of liquid fire on him.” In the intriguing novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, it portrays a realistic, American society where books were prohibited and censorship from the government and society was acceptable and even approved by the people. Books are outlawed and firemen have to burn the books as a job, opposed to firemen put out fires in today’s modern society. Guy Montag, the main character, steals books and attempts to change society after he encounters Clarisse McClellan in the beginning of the book, who opens his eyes to the emptiness of his life with her innocently

In this society, the people do not read books, think about life and how it works, enjoy nature, or have meaningful conversations. Instead, they watch excessive amounts of television about the size of a wall and listen to the “seashell radio” attached to their ears. This futuristic society is appallingly similar and different to today’s world. By comparing and contrasting the setting, government, and the people in today’s modern society and the book’s dystopian society, it can prove that the world today is quite similar to the dystopian society in the book, Fahrenheit 451.

The setting in the book is emphasized using futuristic details and it depicts that the setting can be illustrated as similar to today’s modern society. In Fahrenheit 451, the setting is basically the opposite of a utopian society and a blend of both fantasy and reality. It can also be very dark and depressing. Today, the world is throwing people into reality and is obviously not a utopian society. Although our world can seem peaceful or wonderful, people don’t realize it could also be viewed as scary, depressing, or terrible. As Mildred stubbornly stays put as bombs are being thrown onto her

People can be often careless and disregard multiple things on purpose. In Fahrenheit 451, this is exactly how people act. People never take in Mother Nature’s beautiful creations of life because they are too attached to their screens. Later in our own future, this absurd behavior will begin to not only spread but dominate the entire world until we don’t even care what’s going on around us or even bother to leave the couch. Shallow and innocent to realism, the three women “friends” addictively watch the parlor war until Montag disrupts them and pulls the plug: “Isn't this show wonderful? cried Mildred. Wonderful. On one wall a woman smiled and drank orange juice simultaneously. How does she do both at once, thought Montag, insanely. In the other walls, an X-ray of the same woman revealed the contracting journey of the refreshing beverage on its way to her delighted stomach! ...Two minutes more and the room whipped out of town to the jet cars wildly circling an area, bashing and baking up and bashing each other again. Montag reached inside the parlor wall and pulled out the main switch. The images drained away as if the water had been let from a gigantic crystal bowl of hysterical fish. The three women turned slowly and looked with unconcealed irritation and then dislike at Montag” (pg.90). Astonished by her own ignorance and her brief interactions with books, Mrs. Phelps