In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury composes a stunning tale of a high-tech, futuristic society in which Montag, the protagonist, is part of the new breed of firefighters, book arsonists. Philosophy, reasoning, and anything that might upset the minorities is hurled straight into the incinerator. Disruptive thoughts are replaced by cacophonies of sound exploding from luminous, color-ridden parlor walls. This overwhelming, hi-tech world has a profound effect on Bradbury’s characters and the society as a whole; stripping them of connection, self, and opinion, leaving only deluded happiness and an unquenchable need for entertainment. The parlor walls, Seashell Radios, film teachers, and simulated ‘families’ that consume this society jostle …show more content…
Bradbury demonstrates this with “the drone of the time-voice in the firehouse ceiling ‘…one thirty-five, Thursday morning, November fourth…one thirty-six…one thirty-seven A.M….” (32). Uninterrupted reflection is inherently necessary for any sort of self-improvement or discovery. Without time to search one’s soul, is becomes impossible to produce any thoughts deeper than those concerning what programs are on, yet this society can’t even peacefully pass the time without being interrupted by the perpetual foghorn that is technology. If they aren’t roaring along the highway at one hundred miles an hour with only the eminent danger in mind, they are in front of the parlor walls, or listening to their Seashells whisper sour nothings in their ears. Concentration is an unthinkable concept. Attention span? A foreign language. This society looks upon self-development as a woman armed with a shoe would a harmless, yet seemingly terrifying bug. Squish. This society squashes the “self” before they even know what it is they’ve squashed. As Beatty, Montag’s Captain at the firehouse concisely puts it, “You always dread the unfamiliar” (58). Thus, self is