Fahrenheit 451 Conformity

In a world that is overrun by an army of conformists, it is crucial to find one's individuality so as to not lose one's sense of self. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is set in a dystopian society in which books are burned by firefighters in order to control dangerous ideas and dictate how people should think. The book tells the story of Guy Montag, a fireman, who questions the norms of his society after meeting someone new. Montag undergoes extreme suffering, loss, and pain as a result of breaking out of the small box his world is in. Through Bradbury’s use of characterization, he demonstrates a theme of conformity as a result of ignorance killing individuality which leaves most people disconnected from the creativity of their own minds.

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Just like Clarisse did for Montag, he wants to help the rest of the people who live in his society to realize that conformity only leads to a boring and bland way of life. Montag and his wife Mildred host a dinner party, and Montag reads a poem that triggers an emotional response from Mrs. Phelps. Mrs. Bowels responds in anger as “Mrs. Phelps was crying(...)‘You see? (...) I've always said, poetry and tears, poetry and suicide and crying and awful feelings, poetry, and sickness; all that mush! You're nasty, Mr. Montag, you're nasty!’”(97). Montag's poem not only moves Mrs. Phelps but causes her to truly look within herself and realize the emotions she had been suppressing as a result of her society's oppressive norms. The words cause her to explore her own mind in a way she had been taught not to do so before. Mrs. Bowels is outraged at the emotional reaction Montag caused in Mrs. Phelps and exclaims “‘But I won't come in this fireman's crazy house again in my lifetime!’”(97). After Mildred's friends leave, Mildred is distraught and says “‘Fool, Montag, fool, fool, oh God you silly fool…’”(98). In both of these examples, Bradbury uses strong language to portray the hostility and unwillingness to accept literature in society. Words such as “crazy” and “fool” are used to demonstrate the clear difference between those who conform, and those who

Captain Beatty is a fireman, in charge of burning the outlawed books alongside Montag, but clearly has a vast knowledge of literature, and how the world around him works. Beatty and Montag are found together during Montags realization period. Beatty says to him, “‘We must all be alike. Not everyone is born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone is made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it.’” (50). Beatty, who often seems like the voice of their society, speaks on the danger of books and literature. His language and tone not only stress the need to act alike but the dangers of not doing so. His words cause readers and intend to cause Montag to believe that books are as dangerous as a “loaded gun”. Although Beatty doesn’t say it, the true reason they are as dangerous as a “loaded gun” is that they force people to think and no longer allow the government to control that. Later after this interaction readers meet a character named Faber. Faber is an intelligent mind who represents freedom. He is one of Montag's mentors throughout the novel. Readers see an interaction between Montag and Faber that causes Montag’s revelation to go even further. Montag says “‘We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing. I