Fahrenheit 451 Criticism Essay

Bradbury's Criticism Critics from all over time usually conversate the same topics. When readers first look at Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 they are most likely to conclude the novel is only criticizing the future, but Bradbury is criticizing both present and future. Fahrenheit 451 is a novel about a futuristic dystopia where books are burned, the firemen start fires, and everything is technology based. The novel consist of a main character by the name of Guy Montag, who is a fireman that comes to the conclusion books are important. Through the novel, he notices that he is surrounded by a community filled with ignorance. Later, Montag escapes the corrupted society to the old railroad filled people similar to himself. Even though the setting of Bradbury's novel is taken place in the future, his objective is to alert the readers of their flaws such as censorship and the use of technology. Bradbury criticizes censorship having the novel take place in a society where books are banned. Montag starts off the novel by stating “It was a pleasure to burn”(Bradbury 3), Montag is making a reference to his job as a firefighter. The job of a firefighter is to burn the homes of those who read books. Also in the novel children are taken at a young age to be educated for war not knowledge itself. “That’s why we've lowered the kindergarten
age year after year until now we’re almost snatching them from the cradle”(Beatty 60). The society believes it is easier to separate a child from its mother, which eliminates the opportunity to form a connection. In today's society, people do not choose the library to retain knowledge from books. Bradbury was showing if the books cannot survive their own home then they cannot be in anyone else's. Technology is also criticized in Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury.
In the novel Mildred (Montag's wife) turns to the tv walls as her family and support, and so she can fall peacefully asleep she uses seashells(portable earpieces). Technology in today's society is how we stay up to date with the news, communication with friends and family, and entertained with music and games. The idea of technology is pleasant and to make life simpler. Bradbury criticizes technology because people tend to focus on technology rather than their own lives. This is not good because the possibility of people not being able to make their own decisions would
occur.
As shown Bradbury uses a futuristic dystopian society to criticize the flaws in society today. In the novel there are examples of how technology and censorship can destroy the world we live in. if one was to not read the novel, the concept of enjoying life would not appear in one's mind. Bradbury gives the reader a taste of the future if they continue of following their daily life.