November 2012
ENGL112
Pr. Flaherty
Setting in Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, is a story about a futuristic America where technology rules everything and literature, and anything else that involves thinking a little deeper is banned. Houses and schools are full of wall sized TV screens, which are watched all day by the citizens of this futuristic society. Guy Montag, the main character, is a fireman. Firemen in this society don’t put out fires; they light them. Firemen are responsible for burning books being that they have been banned from society. The fast pace lives these people live is greatly influenced by their environment. Guy’s neighbor, Clarisse, is kicked out of school because she is thought to be “anti-social” because she tries to talk to people and asks questions. When Clarisse is killed, Mildred does not want to talk about her because people in this society don’t like to talk about sad things or death. Beatty forces Montag to burn his own house because although he has read books, he still sees them as unnecessary. In Bradbury’s futuristic society, people don’t think for themselves, they just do. Clarisse McClellan is different from these types of people. She is not interested in what the TVs have to say. She likes talking to people and getting to know them. She enjoys walking and admiring nature. These are some of the things the people of this society see as being anti-social, and different. Kids her age drive around really fast and run over things for fun. Clarisse does relate to the destructive and violent driven society she lives in, so she is considered anti-social. Death is not acknowledged or mourned in this society. Once a person has died, they are incinerated and forgotten in minutes. When Mildred informs Guy that the McClellan family is gone and that the girl is dead, she say it as calmly as she would tell Guy about something on the TV. The way she responds to Guy’s questions about