Farhenheit 45

Literary Analysis Could you ever imagine living in a world where books were not allowed, houses were fireproof, and firemen started fires instead of putting them out? Ray Bradbury created this dystopian society of backwards thinking in his novel Fahrenheit 451. When he wrote the book, during the Cold War, the United States was beginning to censor many things and his fear of what it would turn into inspired him to write this novel. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury overly exaggerates a future society from where the United States in the 1950’s was heading through loss of humanity from television and the theme of censorship by; yet, the symbol of rebirth detracts from the overall effect of exaggeration. In Fahrenheit 451 Mildred, Guy Montag’s wife, is a mindless human being. She has a television show that she calls her “family” and she insists on watching it every time it is on. For example when she is arguing with Montag about reading she says, “Books aren’t people. You read and I look all around but there isn’t anybody!... Now my family is people. They tell me things: I laugh, they laugh! And the colors!... Why should I read? What for!” (73;ch.2). This quote illustrates the fact that all she does is sit around and believes to be interacting with people, when in fact she is just talking to a television show. When she wants another television installed she tells Montag “Its only two thousand dollars and I think you should consider me sometimes. If we had a fourth wall, why it’d just be like this room wasn’t ours at all, but all kinds of exotic people’s rooms” (20;ch.1). This line spoken by Mildred shows the reality of her mindless television show consuming her life and that she no longer thinks like a human being. Society’s goal in essentially hypnotizing its citizens was successful. Any person with sense such as Montag would know that it is outrageous to buy another screen when they cannot afford it. Mildred is a perfect example of a mindless