Fahrenheit 451, a novel written by Ray Bradbury, takes place in the future in a suburban city. In this futuristic society, books are banned and firemen burn houses where books are found inside. Guy Montag is a firemen that at first enjoys his work destroying books as a living. However, after several events, such as meeting Clarisse (a thought-provoking 17-year old), his wife overdosing on sleeping pills, and a women that decided to die with her books, he becomes more interested in books. He starts to illegally collect books and read them with his wife. Montag mistakenly reads poetry to his wife Mildred and her guests. The guest and Mildred report Montag, resulting in his boss, Captain Beatty, to order Montag to burn down his own house. Montag responds by killing his boss and running away to the countryside. Meanwhile, the city that he left was destroyed by nuclear weapons. A possible message of this story are the dangers of censorship and mass media. Mildred’s wife and her friends are completely mindless and are obsessed with …show more content…
Many Americans were worried about influence from mass advertising, mass journalism, and mass entertainment; Fahrenheit 451 reflects this worry (801). Mildred, representing the average person, is completely with technology and entertainment. "Will you turn the parlour off?" he asked. “"That's my family." "Will you turn it off for a sick man?"” (46). Montag tells Mildred to turn off the television parlor walls but Mildred is completely obsessed with television and considers the people inside the TV walls as her real family. Families have apparently fallen apart in this new society as people care little about their “family” members. Montag admits that he would not mind if his wife died and Mildred’s friends admit they wouldn’t care if their husbands died in the