Fahrenheit 451 Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Synthesis Essay In the book Fahrenheit 451, author Ray Bradbury describes a futuristic society in which it is normal for an average individual to shun and absolutely loathe books. The main character, Guy Montag, works as a fireman, and his job description consists of burning books instead of preventing fires. Television is a major topic in this book, and for the most part, is portrayed as an extremely obsessive and deleterious item. Today, in American society however, television is a much more positive thing, and has a lot to contribute to a healthy, connected, and well informed society. In American society, television can save lives instead of destroying them. Tim Leberecht, a well-reputed blogger and columnist, proclaims, “studies indicate enormous potential for TV to serve as a health educator” (Leberecht). Television provides us with information about how to keep better health in an interesting and effective way. By using drama and popular culture references, TV educates us about health concerns and ways to prevent them. Bradbury obviously does not realize this aspect of television when he states on page 21, “If we had a fourth wall, why it’d be like this room wasn’t ours at all, but all kind of exotic people’s rooms” (Bradbury 21). Montag’s wife, Mildred, tries to convince Guy to get her a fourth TV wall, which would completely enclose her in a fake TV world. In reality, however, people make much more out of TV than in this fake, futuristic society. Television today has transformed into a machine that can make us grasp and learn difficult items with ease. “TV can make us smarter (as it) contains multi threaded storylines featuring fifteen or more characters,” states www.designmind.com (Leberecht). These complexities in plot make us think extensively and outside the box, and push our minds to the limits of our computing ability. Unfortunately for the natives of the futuristic society in Fahrenheit 451, television only contains useless

Cited: Leberecht, Tim. “10 Reasons Why TV Is Good For You.” Design Mind. 27 July 2010. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.