The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury covers a lot of controversial topics about the future of society. The novel focuses on an average member of the community, Guy Montag, in a dystopian society where people are persecuted for reading books. Bradbury depicts a world in which people depend on technology, lose their sense of individuality, and have little to no practical knowledge. In the novel, the city’s citizens spend a good portion of their life watching television, even though they normally can’t even remember what it’s about. Bradbury even goes as far as showing Montag’s wife, Mildred, as a completely brainwashed perfect societal figure. “She was an expert at lip-reading from ten years of apprenticeship at Seashell ear-thimbles.” …show more content…
He describes a scene where Mildred and some of her friends are sitting in the parlor talking about the presidential candidates from the last election. “ ‘I voted last election, same as everyone, and I laid it on the line for President Noble. I think he’s one of the nicest looking men ever became president.’ ‘Oh, but the man they ran against him!’ ‘He wasn’t much, was he? Kind of small and homely and he didn’t shave too close or comb his hair very well.’ ‘What possessed the ‘Outs’ to run him? You just don’t go running a little short man like that against a tall man’ ” -Page 93 They revealed in this quote that they didn’t know anything about their policies or beliefs and that they voted just based off of looks and even just the sound of their names. They were also indifferent about the war happening, despite the fact that all of their husbands besides Montag were taking part in it. One of them was even talking about how if her husband died should would just remarry for the fourth time. All of these things seem very far from the way that we are today, but we are slowly becoming more and more like the dystopian society that Bradbury