Culture In Fahrenheit 451
All of our sources of knowledge, taken away and modified by a society that thinks we need to be equal. This is the society that the people in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury live in. The story is about the protagonist, Guy Montag, and his life in this society. He is a fireman, (In this story firemen burn books) and realizes one day that something’s not right about their society. He starts reading books, and that is when things start to become problematic, but also, when things start to make sense. This essay will outline the culture, characters, and themes of Fahrenheit 451. A main element in Fahrenheit 45 is the culture of society. The people in this society are sheep. They follow the government as sheep follow their herder. One example
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in the book is when all of the people are told to look out the window at the same time to try to find Guy Montag:
Police suggest entire population in the Elm Terrace area do as follows: Everyone in every house in every street open a front or rear door or look from the windows. (Bradbury 131)
This quote comes back to the sheep mentality mentioned before. If the rest of the herd is moving they will follow right behind. Another example of government control in Fahrenheit 451 is when the whole population is told there are only 1 million troops fighting when there are actually 10 million. This discrepancy is just part of the fake news the government feeds their people. The government also feeds subtle lies here and there that add up quickly. As more and more people are fed more and more wrong information, they just assume it’s correct and think nothing of it. Another interesting part of the culture of this society is the way the children act. In this day and age mothers love and care for their children immensely. In Fahrenheit 451 mothers think of kids as only hassles and they have them be occupied by a TV screen. “You heave them (kids) in the parlor and turn the switch. It’s like washing clothes; stuff laundry in and slam the lid” (Bradbury 93). Children also kill each other constantly. Clarisse says this to Montag in the beginning of the book and Montag is almost killed by a kid driving a car on his escape. Although children are not mentioned much in the book, it is assumed that they all have been brainwashed just like the adults. They get very poor education and are taught solely by the “parlor”. The parlor is televisions that serve as “family”. Another main element in Fahrenheit 451 is the character development.
The protagonist in this story, Guy Montag, changes a lot throughout the story. Guy seems to be just a normal fireman until he meets a girl named Clarisse. Clarisse makes Guy rethink who he really is when she asks him if he’s happy and he says to himself, “Of course I’m happy. What does she think? I’m not? (Bradbury 8). As the quote explains, Guy is really having trouble dealing with himself. He is a fireman but isn’t sure if he wants to be one anymore after what Clarisse talked to him about. Montag has a very interesting relationship with his wife, Mildred. In our society today, marriage is a very meaningful sacrament. Guy and Mildred’s relationship seems more like a mutual agreement than actual love. In the book, Guy cannot even remember where him and his wife first met: . This is a clear indication that the people in this society have almost no emotion and are brainwashed. Another main character is Captain Beatty. Captain Beatty is the antagonist of the story and a fireman who works with Guy Montag. Even though Beatty is a fireman, he seems to be very knowledgeable on books. Many times in Fahrenheit 451, he quotes famous quotes and seems to be more knowledgeable than the average man: “All’s well that is well in the end.” (Bradbury 104) Beatty says this to confuse Montag even though Beatty obviously knows the actual Shakespearian quote, “All’s well that ends well.” Although Beatty seems very educated, he acts like he wants to die. Towards the end of the book, Beatty teases Montag to kill him after Montag torches his
house:
He twitched the safety catch on the flame thrower. Beatty glanced instantly at Montag’s fingers and his eyes widened…Well, that’s one way to get an audience. Hold a gun on a man and force him to listen to your speech. (Bradbury 112)
Beatty saw what was happening to society and wanted to die instead of living a life where he could not think freely. Beatty has an interesting relationship with Guy Montag. Although Beatty himself has read many books, he tries to dissuade Guy from reading at all. Guy Montag and Captain Beatty are both integral to the story and go through many psychological changes as the story progresses. Throughout the course of the book, Bradbury incorporates many important themes. One of these themes is that people are too obsessed with technology. Parents in the society actually let televisions teach their kids everything. It is hard to even fathom that this could happen today but Bradbury might be on to something. We are so obsessed with our technology that it is starting to take over our social lives wholly. People nowadays would rather look down at a screen than to have interactions with the people around them. Also, television is considered as family in their society. When Montag tells Mildred to turn down the television she says, “Now, my family’ is people. They tell me things; I laugh, they laugh! And the colors!” (Bradbury 69) Mildred saying this signifies where people’s true intentions are at, and that is toward technology. Technology pretty much took over family life as a whole. Mildred also says that she needs a fourth wall, (television) even though they already have three. This is almost exactly the type of life lived today in the sense that we always want more. Another major theme in Fahrenheit 451 is how censorship can affect society. One aspect of this need for censorship is that the government burns books. The government feels the need to burn books so that they can control the thoughts of the people they govern. Without books there is no evidence of what happened before the “utopian” United States was formed. Another aspect is that anyone can change what happened in the past to his or her own desire. When Beatty comes to talk to Montag during his sick day he says this, “Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal.” (Bradbury 55) This is brainwashing at its acme and really speaks to how little knowledge of history most of the people in the society have. Brainwashing is another major aspect of censorship in this book. In schools they started to decrease how much they taught kids until the point where they just started playing movies instead of learning in classes. This is extremely problematic because everyone will just accept what people tell them because they do not know anything that would say otherwise. Technology and censorship are major themes displayed in Fahrenheit 451. The culture, themes, and characters in Fahrenheit 451 are displayed with many descriptions. They shape the book and describe how the Utopian society influences everything. “Tiger tiger burning bright in the forests of the night.” (Blake)
in the book is when all of the people are told to look out the window at the same time to try to find Guy Montag:
Police suggest entire population in the Elm Terrace area do as follows: Everyone in every house in every street open a front or rear door or look from the windows. (Bradbury 131)
This quote comes back to the sheep mentality mentioned before. If the rest of the herd is moving they will follow right behind. Another example of government control in Fahrenheit 451 is when the whole population is told there are only 1 million troops fighting when there are actually 10 million. This discrepancy is just part of the fake news the government feeds their people. The government also feeds subtle lies here and there that add up quickly. As more and more people are fed more and more wrong information, they just assume it’s correct and think nothing of it. Another interesting part of the culture of this society is the way the children act. In this day and age mothers love and care for their children immensely. In Fahrenheit 451 mothers think of kids as only hassles and they have them be occupied by a TV screen. “You heave them (kids) in the parlor and turn the switch. It’s like washing clothes; stuff laundry in and slam the lid” (Bradbury 93). Children also kill each other constantly. Clarisse says this to Montag in the beginning of the book and Montag is almost killed by a kid driving a car on his escape. Although children are not mentioned much in the book, it is assumed that they all have been brainwashed just like the adults. They get very poor education and are taught solely by the “parlor”. The parlor is televisions that serve as “family”. Another main element in Fahrenheit 451 is the character development.
The protagonist in this story, Guy Montag, changes a lot throughout the story. Guy seems to be just a normal fireman until he meets a girl named Clarisse. Clarisse makes Guy rethink who he really is when she asks him if he’s happy and he says to himself, “Of course I’m happy. What does she think? I’m not? (Bradbury 8). As the quote explains, Guy is really having trouble dealing with himself. He is a fireman but isn’t sure if he wants to be one anymore after what Clarisse talked to him about. Montag has a very interesting relationship with his wife, Mildred. In our society today, marriage is a very meaningful sacrament. Guy and Mildred’s relationship seems more like a mutual agreement than actual love. In the book, Guy cannot even remember where him and his wife first met: . This is a clear indication that the people in this society have almost no emotion and are brainwashed. Another main character is Captain Beatty. Captain Beatty is the antagonist of the story and a fireman who works with Guy Montag. Even though Beatty is a fireman, he seems to be very knowledgeable on books. Many times in Fahrenheit 451, he quotes famous quotes and seems to be more knowledgeable than the average man: “All’s well that is well in the end.” (Bradbury 104) Beatty says this to confuse Montag even though Beatty obviously knows the actual Shakespearian quote, “All’s well that ends well.” Although Beatty seems very educated, he acts like he wants to die. Towards the end of the book, Beatty teases Montag to kill him after Montag torches his
house:
He twitched the safety catch on the flame thrower. Beatty glanced instantly at Montag’s fingers and his eyes widened…Well, that’s one way to get an audience. Hold a gun on a man and force him to listen to your speech. (Bradbury 112)
Beatty saw what was happening to society and wanted to die instead of living a life where he could not think freely. Beatty has an interesting relationship with Guy Montag. Although Beatty himself has read many books, he tries to dissuade Guy from reading at all. Guy Montag and Captain Beatty are both integral to the story and go through many psychological changes as the story progresses. Throughout the course of the book, Bradbury incorporates many important themes. One of these themes is that people are too obsessed with technology. Parents in the society actually let televisions teach their kids everything. It is hard to even fathom that this could happen today but Bradbury might be on to something. We are so obsessed with our technology that it is starting to take over our social lives wholly. People nowadays would rather look down at a screen than to have interactions with the people around them. Also, television is considered as family in their society. When Montag tells Mildred to turn down the television she says, “Now, my family’ is people. They tell me things; I laugh, they laugh! And the colors!” (Bradbury 69) Mildred saying this signifies where people’s true intentions are at, and that is toward technology. Technology pretty much took over family life as a whole. Mildred also says that she needs a fourth wall, (television) even though they already have three. This is almost exactly the type of life lived today in the sense that we always want more. Another major theme in Fahrenheit 451 is how censorship can affect society. One aspect of this need for censorship is that the government burns books. The government feels the need to burn books so that they can control the thoughts of the people they govern. Without books there is no evidence of what happened before the “utopian” United States was formed. Another aspect is that anyone can change what happened in the past to his or her own desire. When Beatty comes to talk to Montag during his sick day he says this, “Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal.” (Bradbury 55) This is brainwashing at its acme and really speaks to how little knowledge of history most of the people in the society have. Brainwashing is another major aspect of censorship in this book. In schools they started to decrease how much they taught kids until the point where they just started playing movies instead of learning in classes. This is extremely problematic because everyone will just accept what people tell them because they do not know anything that would say otherwise. Technology and censorship are major themes displayed in Fahrenheit 451. The culture, themes, and characters in Fahrenheit 451 are displayed with many descriptions. They shape the book and describe how the Utopian society influences everything. “Tiger tiger burning bright in the forests of the night.” (Blake)