What could our society be like in the future? A utopia or a dystopia? The dystopian conventions of censorship, surveillance and lack of freedom are key themes in the novel Fahrenheit 451 and are conveyed through the narrative elements of setting and plot by Ray Bradbury. The novel has allowed me to reflect upon these issues and relate them to my issues in our modern-day society. Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel set in the year 2049, and follows the rebirth/transformation of Guy Montag going from a book burning firemen to a book loving anarchist that opposes the societes beliefs which soon leads to him deserting his house and fleeing to a camp of intellectuals.The novel has allowed me to contemplate the dystopian conventions of surveillance, …show more content…
This novel explores the dystopian issue of surveillance and how it is displayed to me through the use of narrative elements. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury uses plot and setting to display what society was like during Guy Montags era, always being monitored and surveilled having no sort of freedom for him or the ones close to him. This is clearly shown throughout the novel with the firemen (subordinates) always having information on the ones close to him, as seen he was having a conversation with Beatty about “Clarrise McClellan? We’ve got a record on her family. We’ve watched them very carefully” (Pg 79). HIs statement outlines the fact that they have carefully surveilled her family in great detail mentioning that Clarrise is a queer one and that they do not get them very often. Another passage that demonstrates the act of surveillance can be observed in Montags workplace (firestation) with the hound, the purpose of the hound is to capture those that are suspected or a known to have read books and in the novel the hound “half rose from the kennel…growled and extended its silver needle”, this close encounter from the hound emphasises how the hound somehow knew Montag had some trace of a