“A time to keep silent and time to speak,” is a quote from the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury 158). Based upon the novel, when should one take a stand and when ought to submit to society? Set in the distant future, Fahrenheit 451 introduces a public that conforms to burning books, with the intention for thoughts to be more limited and less likely to go against the government. Even so, there are still some who decide to be individualist and enlighten themselves in secret. Through his characters, Bradbury demonstrates the theme of conformity and how it is reflected in society. Mildred, Montag's wife, is a perfect representation of a conformed individual in the start of the story. When Montag is discussing the topic of reading books all Mildred can do is argue “he might come and burn the house and the ‘family.’ That’s awful! Think about our investment” (Bradbury 69). This demonstrates Mildred’s shallowness. She is only truly worried with her 'family' on television, whom she perceives as irreplaceable. Mildred is utterly unaware of society's problems, and her role appears to be that of …show more content…
While on a walk with a wise sixteen year old girl named Clarisse, he gets asked “didn’t firemen prevent fires rather than stroke them up and get them going?” (Bradbury 31). He replies dismissively at this at first, but as the story progresses he starts wondering if this is true. His curiosity leads him to question what he’s been doing the past years of his life. He communicates that “it’s not just a woman who died. Last night I thought about all that kerosene I’ve used in the past ten years.” (Bradbury 49) His concerns for all the times he's burned books lightheartedly show him starting to develop a mind of his own and realize he shouldn't just do something because everyone else does it. Moving forwards, he’d take into account the damage being done to the valuable