Fahrenheit 451, American Society

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Alec Reynolds
Mrs. Rocheleau
English 2
27 March 2014
American Society

Many people believe that there is something inherently wrong with the American society that we live in. The book Fahrenheit 451 clearly shows that the author, Ray Bradbury, is one of those people. In the beginning of the novel we are introduced into a futuristic dystopian world where firemen start fires rather than putting them out. In this world people have lost all of their connections to the world around them and spend all of their time watching TV on giant Parlor
Walls, driving very fast, and otherwise blocking out all social interactions. In the middle of all of this, a fireman named Guy Montag begins to realize that the censored world that he lives in is not what it seems to be. This is when he knows that he must set out to change the world for the better. Bradbury’s purpose in writing this book is mainly to point out the flaws in our society.
He uses literary devices such as satire and figurative language to help convey that our world is very dysfunctional and over time will get worse. I partially agree with this opinion because there are many things wrong with our world but I don't believe it will get very much worse.
Throughout the book satire is used to help support Bradbury’s opinion on American society. For example, this literary device helps him satirize the devaluing of human life that seemed to be occurring when the book was written. This can be shown when Clarisse tells

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Montag about how careless people her age are, and how kids her own age kill each other and think nothing of it. At one point in their conversation Clarisse tells Montag, “Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks” (30). This satirizes the growing tendency to go faster in cars, as well the slow movement towards the devaluing of human life. Bradbury clearly was starting to see this in his own world in the 1950’s and believed it would continue to escalate.
Another literary device the he used to convey his point was figurative language. He uses this devices similarly to the way he uses satire, but instead directly compares to like things to convey his idea. An example of figurative language occurs when Montag is standing outside
Clarisse’s house and listening in on her uncle talking. “ Well after all, this is the age of disposable tissue. Blow your nose on a person, wad them, flush them away, reach for another, blow, wad flush. Everyone is using everyone else’s coattails” (17). This metaphor shows how people just use others to benefit themselves by comparing people to tissues. Bradbury is saying that people only care about themselves and will dispose of another person once they’re done.
For the most part I agree with Bradbury’s point of view. He believes that American society is selfish, careless and lazy. I agree to this but I don't think that every person is like this.
These stereotypes of Americans are clearly expressed in the Onion article, American Public
Actually Kind of Endearing in Some Ways. This article satirizes some of the most common
American stereotypes. Being stereotypes they obviously do not apply to everyone so Bradbury is wrong in that aspect.

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Ray Bradbury uses literary devices to help convey his opinions on American society.
This helps keep the story interesting while adding evidence onto his stance. He obviously was not very fond of the way society seemed to be heading. He uses the dystopian world as both as a model for what he predicts the world will look like, as well as an exaggeration fort our world today. I may agree with some aspects of his opinion but I do not think the world will ever be like it is in Fahrenheit 451