Fahrenheit 451, Connection to Current Society
Fahrenheit 451: A Model For Current Society?
The end of the Second World War sparked new cultural movements in American society. Factories which were once used to mass produce airplanes, tanks, and other machines of war were no longer needed for that purpose. Servicemen returned from overseas to find a massive amount of available jobs, wages were higher due to an economic boom, and because there were rarely any consumer goods during the war, the American people had a massive hunger to go shopping. The American Dream of having a husband or wife, “2.5 kids”, and owning a house with a white picket fence was the “Kool-Aid” that everybody in post-war America was thirsty for. What did this mean for society, though? The Dream sparked a movement of rampant consumerism, materialism, and in turn, cultural decline. Ray Bradbury lived in Los Angeles, California, an epicenter of such movements which influenced him to write Fahrenheit 451. In the story, Ray Bradbury warns us of what society would be like if things were to continue as they were in America. Shockingly, those predictions made half a century ago by Ray Bradbury have been increasingly holding true for our society today. We can see the themes of censorship, mass media, and conformity play their roles not only in Fahrenheit 451, but in our current society today.
Censorship is the most prevalent theme of Fahrenheit 451. The story revolves around the life of Guy Montag, who makes his living as a “fireman”, but not the common fireman we know and love. In the story, the firemen do the exact opposite of the firemen of today. They start fires rather than put them out in an effort to censor books from the society. In Montag’s world, anybody who is found to have books would in turn have their books burned and their houses burned as well. Bradbury warns us of what may happen if the government is allowed to control what people read or watch. In Fahrenheit 451, their government has already completely eliminated books. The book
The end of the Second World War sparked new cultural movements in American society. Factories which were once used to mass produce airplanes, tanks, and other machines of war were no longer needed for that purpose. Servicemen returned from overseas to find a massive amount of available jobs, wages were higher due to an economic boom, and because there were rarely any consumer goods during the war, the American people had a massive hunger to go shopping. The American Dream of having a husband or wife, “2.5 kids”, and owning a house with a white picket fence was the “Kool-Aid” that everybody in post-war America was thirsty for. What did this mean for society, though? The Dream sparked a movement of rampant consumerism, materialism, and in turn, cultural decline. Ray Bradbury lived in Los Angeles, California, an epicenter of such movements which influenced him to write Fahrenheit 451. In the story, Ray Bradbury warns us of what society would be like if things were to continue as they were in America. Shockingly, those predictions made half a century ago by Ray Bradbury have been increasingly holding true for our society today. We can see the themes of censorship, mass media, and conformity play their roles not only in Fahrenheit 451, but in our current society today.
Censorship is the most prevalent theme of Fahrenheit 451. The story revolves around the life of Guy Montag, who makes his living as a “fireman”, but not the common fireman we know and love. In the story, the firemen do the exact opposite of the firemen of today. They start fires rather than put them out in an effort to censor books from the society. In Montag’s world, anybody who is found to have books would in turn have their books burned and their houses burned as well. Bradbury warns us of what may happen if the government is allowed to control what people read or watch. In Fahrenheit 451, their government has already completely eliminated books. The book