Fahrenheit 451

In the book Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, the author predicts the future of today’s society. Bradbury predicted the future of today’s technology and societal issues. Some technology from the book that is similar to today is the small electronic earpieces that fit into peoples’ ears to communicate with people; nowadays, it exists and people call it Bluetooth. In addition, there was large flat screen televisions that were the size of a wall. Technology is part of the societal issues from the book, they are similar to today’s society because the people do not care about reading or gaining knowledge anymore, it’s all about television and technology. In addition, suicide is not taken care of or prevented properly It is almost as suicide is taken as a joke. Actually, there are many ways today’s society is similar to the book, society that Bradbury based in the future containing advanced technology and societal issues.

Ray Bradbury created the novel Fahrenheit 451 as a way to admonish future generations against social and economic trends that would emerge during the twentieth century.

The world’s humanity was folding away without being noticed by a single soul. The society was focused on technology so that when the characteristics that made man human were gone, they would not be missed by the majority. Government officials were strict on the molding of the new era, but they even more harshly enforced that the wisdom of the past not be acknowledged. A harsh, cruel world that had decided that free will was too dangerous. This is the world of Fahrenheit 451.

Fahrenheit 451 is currently Bradbury's most famous written work of social criticism. It deals with serious problems of control of the masses by the media, the banning of books, and the suppression of the mind (with censorship). Even though Bradbury published this novel in 1953, it predicted a major outlook on how the future’s society would turn out. Technology plays a big part in how we all function in our everyday lives. With technology, everything is much more convenient, and everyone has a much easier access to voice their opinions. In the novel, in order to keep this in line, the government created a culture where it is forbidden to have any outside influences which would promote individual thoughts. In the result of this new law,

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury that depicts a futuristic American society where books are banned and independent thought is persecuted. Bradbury uses his imagination to take a hard look at a world consumed by technology, and he presents predictions about pleasure, violence and anti-intellectualism that are alarmingly similar to the modern American society. Notably, in both societies people find pleasure in entertainment that is endlessly preoccupying. Second, people are violent and careless. Finally, anti-intellectualism and suppression of independent thought affect both societies, as firemen ban books in Fahrenheit 451 and, in the

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Modern World The futuristic world that Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, so vividly describes is frighteningly close to our own. It might not seem so at first glance, but if you take a closer look, you'll find that Bradbury wasn't far off the mark with his idea of what our lives would be like in 50 years. As he envisioned, technology would be extremely sophisticated, families would start becoming distant, and entertainment would take a more significant role in our lives. The problems at the present might not be as extreme as Bradbury's, however, if left unchecked, they could grow to be just as monstrous as he predicted.

In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury tells the story of a dystopic world where books are burned by firemen because they are prohibited. By presenting this, he makes a point on how books are essential and at the same time warning readers. He was trying to say,” If this happens, then this will happen.” He visualized this society in this book, based on his society, which is parallel to our society now. In the dystopic Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury examines his society at the time, and he admonishes readers about possible aspects of future societies, especially mass media, technological advancement, and peoples’ mental health.

The average person in our society spends 7-8 hours a day(The Washington Post) using technology; that is stuff like television, video games, surfing the web, etc. Let that set in; that’s a long time. Our society procrastinates also is constantly distracted by technology like no other. We are practically glued to technology; before we become slaves of technology we must change that. The theme of technology in Fahrenheit 451 informs us that the overuse of technology makes people lazy/procrastinate, that technology will overpower people’s lives, and technology takes away from people’s education.

This study examines the issue of freedom of information in the story of literary oppression found in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Bradbury presents the oppression of an authoritarian state that does not allow its citizens to reads books. Guy Montag is initially a servant of the state that requires him to locate and persecute members of the community that still collect books. In various cases, Bradbury defines the rights of certain citizens to rebel against Guy and the other “book burners”, which suggest liberation from tyranny and the freedom of information. Guy also becomes convenient that the policy to destroy books is a threat to civilization, and the rebellion allows him to change his views and to rebel against the government. More importantly, Clarisse’s role in inspiring Guy to revolt becomes a major catalyst for freeing the society from banning books that are deemed a threat to the social order. In essence, an analysis of freedom of information will be examined in this study of literary oppression found in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a display of how humans are relying more and more on technology for entertainment at the price of their ability for intellectual development. It is a novel about technological dystopia, often compared to other novels such as, George Orwell’s 1984 and Asimov Ender’s Game. Although today’s technology has not quite caught up with Bradbury’s expectations, the threat of having his vision of a dystrophic society is very realistic. He sees a futuristic society in which this submission of thought is highly valued. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury displays a futuristic utopian society where "the people did not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations" (Mogen, Pg. 111).

When writing the introduction to Fahrenheit 451, author Neil Gaiman stated that “ideas--written ideas--are special. They are the way we transmit our stories and our thoughts from one generation to the next. If we lose them, we lose our shared history”. Gaiman is absolutely correct; especially because what he is saying heavily applies to books. Books are a critical aspect in shaping humanity as a whole, they create and share a network of creative ideas, history, and overall entertainment; to lose books would be like losing patches of humankind’s history. Creativity, history, feelings and thoughts: all of the aspects that make us human...gone. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury illustrates the story of a man named Guy Montag who struggles to live in a futuristic dystopian society where censorship through book burning is prominent. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses multiple motifs to emphasize a certain idea or convey a message to the reader better. A motif is a recurring subject, theme, idea, or even a physical object that appears in literature. Ray Bradbury’s hostile tone towards technology gives meaning to the reader by depicting the message that technology has the power to completely detach people from their genuine emotions, as well as urge readers to not get too attached to technology because it separates them from relationships in real life.

In 1953, American author and screenwriter, Ray Bradbury, in his novel, Fahrenheit 451, utilizes a dramatic and depressing tone alerting the effects of social issues in a dystopian society, such as order and identity in the world. During the 1950's new technological advances were being created that helped alter the world such as the first ever commercial computer or television. Bradbury's purpose in this novel was to prevent what was to come in the future with the minds of human minds be consumed by new toys and gadgets. With this book Bradbury wanted to change his audience's perspective on the way they perceive books and the social outcome it can have. He implements many Biblical allusions, paradoxes, and imagery to help develop his major themes that factor what is happening in society.

Ray Bradbury´s wrote a book about this dystopian society where everything in our world is backwards in their world, they can speed, they burn books, and everybody is always gloomy and sad. Montag changed his mindset throughout the book, he went from burning books to saving them from getting burnt. Mildred on the other hand, continuously stayed the same throughout the book. She beginned the book showing she did not care, and carried that same mentality through the rest of the book. Ray Bradbury´s uses contrasting characters in Fahrenheit 451 to illustrate the differences within views of a dystopian society with his development of Montag and Mildred.

society by reading only the first few pages. Fahrenheit 451 was written by Ray Bradbury in

Today technology controls almost everything we do, from the way we go places to what we eat. With this power of technology comes good and evil, medicines and poisons. Through technology we have accesses way more information than before. For example every day you can absorb as much knowledge as King Henry the eighth did in his entire life. This is all due to the improvement of technology. Sadly technology also has a bad side, with faster communication, rumors can be spread faster and kids can be bullied easier. The internet can easily become a second world for many people, especially young adults. Technology is the basis for many relationships, especially long distances. Match.com and other dating sites take advantage of the fact so many people use technology as a way to make or maintain relationships. With technology comes a large amount of knowledge that is easily accessible. Some of the knowledge offends or scares many people but our government hasn’t gotten the point of completely censoring everything. In Fahrenheit 451, a novel about a dystopian society, Ray Bradbury illustrates what he believes our world should be like right now. This scarily accurate novel demonstrates the way technology has affected knowledge and relationships in both our world and the world of Fahrenheit 451 in the same way.