Fahrenheit 451

Madison Amos

Shube

LA II, Period 1

1December 2011 Farhenheit 451
In Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, he tells the story of a charector named Montag with a wife named Mildred. Even though, Mildred and Montag are married in the novel, he portraies them to not have the closest relationship and do not seem that intamite on a physical or emotional level. Shockingly, one night he finds Mildred in her room, laying on her bed with what he describes as "a snow-covered island upon which ran might fall, but it felt no rain." Mildred had overdoesed on sleeping pills. When Montag called the emergency hospital the men there acted like it was no big deal to them, like they have seen this happen all the time so now they are immune to showing any emotion when it comes to this circumstance. This and many more incidents is very similar to the modern soceity that we have today. Ray Bradbury creates a society that is addicted to technology, over uses drugs, and has a corrupt political process much like our own. These are the 3 major issues Bradbury addresses in this book. First, many people in the novel especially Mildred, over use drugs and in her case led to an over dose. Drugs are a dangerous and scary thing and should not be taken lightly but in this story Mildred "pops" pills like it is no big deal. Also, she doesnt even check how much of the medicine she is taking which is the most likely reason humans end up having an overdose. Secondly, Bradbury addresses the many issues society has with the political system. Most people now-a-days vote primarily based on appearenc. By most people voting mainly on looks, it leads to unfit rulers and many arising problems in the government. Lastly, the overuse of technology in the story is a key issue that lead to the down fall of the city. People are so concerned with technology that they are loosing cite on what really is important. They are more focused on technology and the "next and best thing" that they are not intrested and dont know whats going on in the world around them. Bradbury, most likely not even knowing at the time what he was doing, predicted many important problems society will eventually develop.

Farhenheit 451 is very similar to the society we have today in many ways. Just like the story, people today are begining to over use all different types of drugs. It has become easier and easier for people to get a hold on any drugs they are looking for. That is why drugs are such a big killer, if not the biggest in our soceity. Among many other similarities the two communities share is the political system. Primarily, the first thing an individual does when trying to decide which candiate to vote for is they judge their looks. People dont understand how wrong that is to do, this is not going to give our country the best leader, just the prettiest one. To finish, the advances in technology have sparked an intrest in most individuals. Society has definatly come a long way with technology, not making it surprising that people have become consumed and distracted by it. Many people have become unaware to the many changes going on around them because they are so memorized by the things going on with technology. Sadly, modern society is headed in the same downward sprial Farhenheits was if things dont begin to change.

Unaware to Bradbury, when writting the novel he wrote about many issues that could lead to a worlds downfall, not knowing the soceity he was writting about was the present day one. There was many great prediction made by him in the novel. The overal message the story provokes is that every once in awhile, people needs to take a step back and see what it is becoming and make the neccessary changes if needed.