Fahrenheit 451 Through A Psychoanalytic Lens Essay

“Analysing Fahrenheit 451 Through a Psychoanalytic Lens”

Fahrenheit 451 is a novel written by Ray Bradbury exploring the effects of a simplistic society devoid of free thinking and reliant on cheap satisfactions. The story follows a fireman whose job is to burn books and put an end to the sharing of knowledge. The novel reveals the psyche of many of its characters, and the author. Psychoanalytic theory was created by Sigmund Freud, a famous Austrian psychologist. It is a theory used to explain human behaviour. Psychoanalytic theory states that the id, the ego, and the superego make up the human personality (Thornton, 2010). The id represents the instinctual drive for instant satisfactions. The job of the ego is to fulfill the demands of the

Throughout the novel, she is portrayed as a very distant and apathetic character. However, it is through her suicide attempt that the existence of an underlying issue is uncovered. Mildred is obsessed with her TV family and attempts to be happy, but really she is suffering from the effects of a superficial society submerged in technology. In fact, she uses her parlor ‘family’ as a way to avoid confronting her life. Her obsession is seen through her actions when her husband asks her if she could turn off the TV and she simply goes into the living room and returns without lifting a finger. According to Freud, repression is a defense mechanism employed by the ego to keep threatening thoughts hidden away (Lapsley and Stey, 2011 p. 1). The television is a way for Mildred to keep her depressing thoughts about her life hidden in a world where nothing revolves around her. In fact, Sigmund Freud once said; “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways” (Amaral, 2013 p. 1). This is true of Mildred since she attempts suicide when her emotions become too much to handle. In addition, there are several instances in the novel that uncover Mildred’s depressed psychological state. For example, when her husband, Montag, remarks that he has an awful feeling and wants to smash or kill things, she replies; “I always like to drive fast when I

When analysing a novel through psychoanalytic criticism, the psychological being of the author is often explored. First, this book examines a loss of individuality between the people in its society. This is shown through Beatty’s lecture about the atrocity of books when he states, “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy…” (Bradbury, p. 88). A major conflict in the novel is Montag trying to overcome Beatty which relates to the author trying to overcome the weakening of free thinking in society. Moreover, Ray Bradbury’s fear of boredom is explored. Many times throughout the novel, the characters are so bored that they do things that are morally unacceptable and even dangerous. This suggests that Ray Bradbury is afraid of the boredom that could result from a society lacking books and free thinking. An example of boredom leading to questionable behavior is the teenagers that almost run over Montag when he is fleeing the crime scene that he created after killing Beatty. The teens have stooped to murderous activities in order to generate cheap thrills in their otherwise boring lives. Furthermore, the novel portrays Bradbury’s fear of a loss of communication. In many instances in the novel, a disturbing lack of communication and understanding for one another is