The Price Of Harmony In Fahrenheit 451, By Ray Bradbury

Sabrina Xie

March 15, 2023

English

Martha Kurra

The Price of Harmony

“It was a pleasure to burn.” (1) stated Guy Montag, a firefighter. Indeed, in the fictional world of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, instead of extinguishing, the firefighters’ duty is to burn books, which are prohibited for evoking thoughts and inducing conflicts between minorities. The novel follows the dissident Guy Montag’s rebellion against this society of oppression, restriction, and excessive thrill seeking, which was terminated by a nuclear bomb in the end. In Captain Beatty’s defence, their world is this way for harmony and development of the society, while the Maslow’s Hierarchy, which is a highly regarded assessment tool that evaluates a society’s development from

Although financial and emotional security are not extensively discussed, as portrayed through multiple events in the book, physical security is not guaranteed. According to Clarisse McClellan, for titillation, teenagers indulge themselves in speeding and slaughtering, which leads to sixteen of her friends dying in a year alone (30), as the laws condone such vile behaviors. Moreover, the attention deficiency as a result of the constant bombardment of information is also a risk factor, which manifests in Mildred’s fatal overdose on sleeping pills due to her not recalling having consumed enough already (13). In addition, another war is imminent (94) after two atomic wars since 1990 already (73). Besides the inevitable casualties, we learn at the end of the book how the nuclear bomb is able to pulverize the entire city within an instant (158). In such a context, one can never be sure of their life and death the next day, let alone overall

As a matter of fact, this world discourages and restrains individuals from achieving self-actualization by supressing critical thinking essential for one’s self identity, so that there is no disparation, thus no disputes between individuals. As demonstrated through Mildred’s yearning for a new parlor screen and her nonchalant reactions towards her husband’s attempts at initiating conversations, people do not exhibit curiosity, ambition, or passion about anything, but only possess a materialistic mind, which is a typical pathology of the deprivation of self-actualization. On the other hand, Montag’s revolt – a pursuit of change and self-realization, was deemed a crime, further proving the misery of this wretched