Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 offers modern readers a story about his vision of our own society. The accuracy of his predictions is truly astonishing. While modern people have not gone so far as to ban all books and use robotic dogs to track down criminals, countless other aspects of his novel are entirely accurate. Reading Fahrenheit 451 is like reading a foreigner’s description of America. Aspects of our culture that seemed commonplace before are suddenly strange and the reader begins to question parts of their everyday life that before were perfectly natural.
One prophetic element of Fahrenheit 451 are the seashells. Characters use the seashells to listen to music and celebrities. However, the seashells are never removed from their ears, even while sleeping. I was truly shocked when I read the protagonist, Guy Montag, describe the seashells. How could Ray Bradbury so accurately predict the rise and mass use of headphones in modern society? The scene where Montag rides the subway surrounded by people listening to their seashells is no different than scenes from my daily life, when I ride the bus to school surrounded by people with headphones on. Although previously I would have thought nothing of popping in my earbuds, after reading Fahrenheit 451
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Excluding Montag, all the characters agree they only voted based on the appearance and charisma of the two candidates. Bradbury exaggerates here; clearly, he does not expect people will truly vote based on the candidate’s names. However, I was reminded of the previous election. How different are the Fahrenheit 451 characters from the people who judged Hillary Clinton simply for being a woman? I wondered how often have I have been guilty of judging a candidate or other person for superficial or unimportant things. Because of Fahrenheit 451 I am more conscious about basing my opinions of people on ridiculous grounds instead of important