Technology In Fahrenheit 451

As cars get faster, TVs get bigger, books get banished, and individual thought gets erased, it becomes obvious that the world in Fahrenheit 451 was created to represent a dystopian world, but it is quite similar to our own world today. With our current advances, what says that this world is not gonna become true for us? This futuristic world represents how technological advancements can affect people’s lives. In the beginning of the novel, Guy Montag is introduced as the protagonist of the story. He works as a fireman, which, instead of getting rid of fires, firemen are the ones who are in control of what gets burned, and in this case, are books and the houses they are found in. Montag’s captain, Beatty, is fond of his job and expresses his

He comes over to Montag’s house and begins a speech that represents all of the knowledge that they know of their current world, and the propaganda that they are forced to believe. Beatty seems to hate the society which supported books, and even called the authors evil, (Bradbury 50-55). Beatty tends to be more aggressive with his words to prove the point that books are bad. On top of that, he uses multiple analogies to books, proving that he has read them, and showing that the books don’t make sense. He shows his knowledge of books, and to Montag, his analogies confuse him, which is what Beatty wants. He wants to confuse Montag to show that books contradict each other and corrupt the mind. While both Beatty and Montag represent how the corrupt governing system affects its people, they are quite different. They both don’t know anything about their world, but Montag met people that showed him that something was obviously wrong. With Clarisse, she showed him that there are people who question the system. After Clarisse asks him if he is truly happy, he falters. As stated in the text, “He felt his smile slide away, melt, fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin… He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl

Whenever Montag is in a state of despair or hysteria, he tends to repeat the same phrase over and over again. His repetition is a main part of the story, and shows his mental state. For instance, after Montag first begins to read the books he has collected over time, he is confused. He fails to recall a Bible verse on the train home when he is constantly getting distracted by the blaring Denham’s Dentifrice dental commercial repeatedly playing on the train. He loses his temper and begins to scream at himself to shut up. He repeats this phrase over and over again, as well as the commercial. He counts over and over again to get it out of his head, but can’t, (Bradbury 75). Montag is overwhelmed with Bradbury’s dystopian society and their obsession with consumer culture. With the advertisement replaying over and over again on the train, it wouldn’t allow him to think, making him break into hysteria and run off the train. Without any time to process this knowledge, he is unable to truly do what he wants to. He cannot think on his own without society interrupting. This is where we see his self-deprecating nature due to this dystopian society. Another part that shows this is when he repeats this same phrase over and over again: “... you’re a fool, a damn fool, an awful fool, an idiot, and awful idiot, a damn idiot, and a fool, a damn fool; look at the mess and where’s the mop, look at the