Fahrenheit 451 Technology Analysis

In a transitional period of technology and traditional methods, the world is left in a constant balancing act. Similar to the current struggle of incorporating technology into the daily lives of humans, this is the central conflict in the novel Fahrenheit 451. In Ray

Bradbury’s dystopian society, books are found to be illegal and must be burned. This in return becomes an entire occupation, that main character Guy Montag finds himself to be a part. Guy is a firefighter who spends most of his nights burning down the homes that hold books. He seems to have accepted his life as is, until an unlikely girl turns his world upside down. This girl leaves Guy to question everything, his job, his marriage to Mildred, and essentially his existence. He

The reader is quickly able to pick up on this society’s fast pace lifestyle. Everything seems to be blurred and fuzzy in Guy Montag’s world. This quick lifestyle allows for more fun to be had and less thinking to occur. Most of the world seems to prefer this fast pace lifestyle, and those that try to slow it down are reprimanded for it According to Clarisse it is all a literal blur: “If you show a driver a green blur, oh yes, he’d say that’s grass” (Bradbury 6). Their dangerous, seemly limitless speed limits reflect their so-called need to stay on the fast track. Drivers do not even have time to see actual images while they past by, just by a color are they able to identify objects. Along with this, assimilation is key in the eye’s of the government, a person driving too slow is in a sense challenging their authority, and is punished for this. This entire fast pace relates back to each person’s need to be faster than his or her neighbor. Everyone in this society is trying to do everything in their power to win the ultimate race, but this race to live the most fun life results in many senseless injuries and deaths. These injuries and deaths are not viewed as problematic in this society, which shows how little they value anything, human life specifically. In Fahrenheit 451 human life holds little to no value to most everyone in the society. When people die, those

The first significant theme is the struggle between ignorance and knowledge, as both have their potential positives and negatives. Foremost, the novel preserves their fondness of ignorance, although not every featured character enjoys the forced ignorance. Their ignorance-induced happiness is all anyone can seem to talk about, saying their happiness is a right. This so-called right to a falsehood of happiness means one stay constantly unaware and live a without any organic thoughts. For most, this numbing lifestyle seems to be enough, like it is for Mildred. She like many others, is kept perfectly content without knowing anything in particular. In fact Mildred tells Guy how she does not want to hear any more of his radical thoughts or ideas. She claims that Guy is ruining not only his life, but also dragging her name down with him. She fights so fiercely to maintain her ignorance it is clear that is all she has ever known. Even when Mildred begins to hear the knowledge from the various books Guy has stolen, she shuts it all down and returns to her screens so she stay in her numbing, happy zone. Contrary to Mildred and her preferred ignorance, Guy is on a mission to obtain knowledge. Through his unorthodox ways Guy Montag realizes the importance of knowledge. To counter Mildred’s fabricated claims Guy questions her about how they got into yet