Fahrenheit 451 Theme Essay

Knowledge. Happiness. Family. Freedom. These are just a few of the things people today take for granted. But what if that all changed? What if knowledge was shunned upon? If personal happiness and freedom were things of dreams and fantasy? If the idea of a family who communicates and cares for one another were as funny as time travel. In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the main character Guy Montag battles just these things. In a society where books were illegal and the tv was now everyone’s best friend, Montag tries to change the norm after encountering his perky neighbor and a last of its kind book. The book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury portrays a Utopian society that has gone too far to ensure happiness, but after looking more closely it is shocking to see how our society is on the same path to destruction. The way family relationships are in Fahrenheit 451 is the much extreme version of what our family relationship are like today. In the novel, families are disconnected and distracted from their biological family are more dedicated to their parlor families instead, filling an entire room with screens on which their “relatives” can live. As shown on pg 73 Montag tries to ask his wife Mildred whether her parlor family loves and cares for her but she is not able to give a direct answer to the question showing that even she is not entirely sure who her real family is. Another example on pg 92-93 shows what little importance actual families have to people and how they never want to be in any inconvenience. Montag is asking talking to Mildred’s friends about their
Guy Montag realizes how wrong and dysfunctional his society is, two of his issues being these. So now that it is clear of what the extreme result will be of our current society, let's focus on changing and keeping a watch on our society so we may avoid this