Fahrenheit 451
“There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine” (Bradbury 97). The novel Fahrenheit 451 was written by Ray Bradbury in the 1950’s. During this time, the television was becoming widely popular and Bradbury imagined the future of America if technology like this continued to increase in popularity. The novel focuses on the life of Guy Montag a “fireman” whose job is to burn books that are now considered illegal. In this futuristic society it loses its power and purpose because individuals lose their ability to live a full life involving relationships, meaningful activities and rich ideas. The primary source of change in the society is the absence of books. As the captain fireman, Beatty, describes it: “ We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal” (Bradbury 58). The government in the society values the idea of every person being the same and therefore outlawed books since they saw them as a way for certain people to “get ahead”. As a result, the modern “fireman” was created to burn all books in the country. This job is seen as a high honor and the firemen themselves get
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The society that Bradbury imagined was high technology where cars drove lighting fast and the walls of homes were complete screens. Mildred, Montag’s wife, strongly expresses the relationship that an average citizen has with technology. Citizens of this society see the television screens or “parlors” as their “families”. The entire society has lost their relationships with actual people and focuses their time on their screen “families”. Mrs.Bowles, Mildred’s friend, even expresses that she simply puts up with her kids and that they are just like any other chore. This is one example of many that shows how most citizens don’t have personal relationships with their families or friends because technology has replaced