Examples Of Irony In Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 has many forms of irony and it is a strong driving force used by Bradbury to push his point across to the reader. There are many instances where Bradbury uses irony to drive the point home. For example, the elephant in the room would be the fact that firemen start fires. This is a huge driving force to the theme that society is falling under the spell of censorship. Another good example of irony is how Clarisse is considered antisocial in this novel for being what the reader considers social. She is seen as different for thinking and wanting to conversate past small talk. One last example I will offer is that Mildred and her friends call the characters on the screens their family but won’t call their literal family their family.
Montag finds pleasure in the idea of destruction. Irony is present in just this little point, but there’s a bigger picture. Montag is a fireman and firemen in our society are known for bravery and protecting things. Montag and the firemen of his time are known for destruction and bringing the flame. This is a big allusion to the way society has descended into a dark state of censorship. This is a nice way of showing how we as a society are descending into maybe not as dark a state, but still somewhere we shouldn’t be.

“I’m antisocial, they say. I don’t mix. It’s so strange. I’m very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social doesn’t it?..” Clarisse said this as an answer to why she wasn’t in school. They consider her antisocial for wanting to conversate on more than trivial information like the weather and what’s on the walls. Society feels the need to quiet her for having a mind capable of independent thought. The idea of deep thought and feelings scares society and this is very representative of our society