Greed In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

(AGG) “Money cannot buy peace of mind. It cannot heal ruptured relationships, or build meaning into a life that has none” (DeVos). Some people think that money can buy happiness, but it does not give anything more. (BS-1) In the book Fahrenheit 451, Montag, the main character, lives in a society where people are obsessed with the materials around them. (BS-2) Therefore, the author includes affects that the materials have on people. (BS-3) However, the society also has rebelled with an exception to the people who aren’t obsessed with the objects. (TS) Ray Bradbury creates a society of materialistic people, obsessed with having too much, all the while warning the reader about the dangers of greed, through the example of a few characters.

(MIP-1)

In the past quote, Mildred did not want to turn off the TV for her husband which is a little shocking. Her love for TV is more than the love for her husband. (SIP-B) These people love accumulating more fancy and expensive items. (STEWE-1) Mildred loves her material, and she only cares about objects. She asks Montag for everything. She expects them from him, she does not care if there is a money shortage. Mildred only uses Montag for the money. When Mildred raises the point about another TV, Montag brings a financial issue up, but Mildred does not care. Mildred cares more for the price for the TV than she cares for Montag. “‘It’s really fun. It be even more fun when we can afford to have a fourth wall installed. How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall- TV put in/ It is only two thousand-dollars.’ ‘It’s one-third of my yearly pay’” (18). The past quote, Mildred takes the money that Montag earns for granted she doesn’t care how much he is earning. Mildred is greedy in buying items for herself. (STEWE-2) When Mildred is with her earphones, she will never take them off. Even when she sleeps, she will not take them off.

(MIP-3)There are few people in the society who are the exception and are not addicted to materials. (SIP-A) An exception to this is the main character Montag. (STEWE-1) When Mildred has her overdose and the two men come to help her. Montag notices that they use a vacuum, Montag does not like how everything is based on technology. There is a machine to do everything for everyone. The items are taking over the peoples life, and it is solving all of the problems they had. “The vacuum hissed at him. The emptiness…. The nothingness…. He held his breath so that the vacuum could not get into his lungs” (111). (STEWE-2) Montag is also an exception because he is completely against the thought of any person watching TV. Montag thinks that watching too much TV is going to make their brain go dead. Montag thinks that Millie’s brain is giving her thoughts that are unnecessary and not useful. “And then he came to the parlour where the great idiot monsters lay asleep with their white thoughts and their snowy dreams.” (11). (SIP-B) The other exceptions of people in the society who are not obsessed include Faber and Granger. (STEWE-1) Faber is another example of an exception. In Faber’s house there is nothing that is special. There are no objects or TV’s. There are just walls and this shows that he does not care about the way that he views things. Faber does not care about how things look, and the amount of money he pays for things. Faber cares more about the people he meet and the