Society And Community In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, society and community are discussed in a way that serves as a warning to ominous things in our own future. He does so by comparing similar aspects our society shares with theirs, such as a technological obsession with television and other mentally degrading items, the censorship of the government that burns books and does everything in their power to stop the power of thought, and the lack of meaningful and healthy relationships. In the novel, Ray Bradbury introduces a society filled with all three of those elements, with Guy Montag, the main character, symbolizing the feeling that many of us have in the modern day: hopelessness. Montag is lost, forsaken by a world which has no time for thought for him to

In their society, technology is constantly in use by everyone. Mildred, Montag’s wife, is a prime example of this. She spends her days at home, watching the “parlor walls”, pretty much the equivalent of television. Additionally, Mildred and other members of their society use technology like their “seashell radios”, the equivalent of modern day headphones. The television they watch is hyperstimulating and mind-numbing, which easily makes them addicted to it. This addiction is crippling in some cases, with Mildred hating her life and constantly overdosing on her sleeping pills. This hatred of life gives television an even bigger appeal as an escape from their harsh reality. Faber explains this in his rant about television to Montag, when he says, “The televisor is ‘real’. It is immediate…It tells you what to think and blasts it in. It must be right” (Bradbury 80). This addiction and overuse of technology as an escape from reality is a major part of Bradbury’s warning to us, as he sees technology to be a real threat to how we live our lives. Addiction to television and other forms of technology is very prevalent today as well, like Bradbury suggested. As it relates to the modern day, research is constantly finding new major disadvantages to spending a lot of time on technology. Researchers from

In the novel, the government of their society puts an extreme emphasis on blocking information to the people. They do this by having firemen like Montag burn books because they are a critical source of critical thinking. This is an attempt to prevent people from questioning the government, something that could lead to their downfall, so when people like Montag access books, they hunt them down through methods like the Mechanical Hound and television based manhunts. This warning is given clearly in the interactions between Montag, the learner, and his censor, Captain Beatty. Beatty says,”You can’t build a house without nails and wood. If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails and wood (58).” In metaphor, the house symbolizes intellectual thought and ideals. Also, the nails and wood represent the books and information. By “hiding” the books and information, the people aren’t able to “build” a meaningful view of the world. This means to warn us of the dangers of hiding information from citizens, as this can lead to a meaningless and pointless life. However, some modern societies do not heed this warning, like North Korea, Russia, and China. These countries attempt to strip social freedoms and intellectual freedoms from their citizens, the exact opposite of what Bradbury suggests. In 2016, North Korea “officially announced it is blocking