Blurred Distinction Between Life And Death In Fahrenheit 451

Everything in this life goes by fast. The society in everyday life and the one in Fahrenheit are becoming more similar as time goes by. The people we meet and talk to impact our lives in many different ways. In our society and in Fahrenheit 451, connections to others determine the way we live our lives affecting those who are still living after our death.

At quick glance of Fahrenheit 451, the first thing that is seen is a deep meaning. If society was in need, would you be like Montag and try to help save mankind? In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, mindless television is shown in a way that Mildred is so consumed in the T.V. that she doesn’t pay attention to anyone else. Persuasive advertising is shown when Montag gets on the train and is surrounded by ads telling him to buy that product. The decline in a family unit is shown when Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles come over and talk about how having children is the worst thing that has ever happened to them. In order to scare us all into living a more purposeful life, Bradbury creates a society that is very similar to the one we live in today by highlighting

You would think that in a society like the one in Fahrenheit 451, everyone would be similar. That's not the case for Mildred Montag and Clarisse McClellan. Throughout the book, Mildred and Clarisse show multiple traits of themselves that are very different. They're not similar in almost anything. During Fahrenheit 451, Mildred and Clarisse are completely opposite people and that is shown in the differences in their personality, values, and relationship with Montag.

Imagine life without being dependent on technology. People wouldn't be so focused on their phone and instead, would be focused on living, and doing all this fun things you could do if you wanted to. When you’re focused on your electronics, time flies by really fast and you aren't doing anything. If our society actually talked to people instead of texting, we could express our feelings more easily, but in text you could say “Lol”, and not really be laughing. Our society vs Fahrenheit 451 is the same because people always are focused on their electronics and are lifeless or “dead”.

Furthermore, knowledge versus ignorance plays a role in Fahrenheit 451. The reason behind it is there is so much importance in technology than literature itself, society ignores the word. Most children grow up engaged in the TV, rather than reading and developing their minds efficiently. Bradbury expands on this topic by Guy Montag stating “School is shortened, discipline relaxed, philosophies, histories, languages dropped, English and spelling gradually, gradually neglected” (53). Bradbury is trying to explain how children will grow up with a smaller English vocabulary and a lack of word choice without literature. David T Wright, an American writer, has his own thoughts on knowledge versus ignorance. Wright touches on this topic by saying that without reading, most of Montag’s society will lack mental exercise for the brain to retain information; resulting in memory loss (104). Continuing with Wright’s thoughts, he claims that not only do people completely forget that firemen are supposed to put out fires, but also neither Guy nor Mildred remember how they met (104). Rodney Smolla had a similar view, he stated “Bradbury seems to be insisting that while it may be possible to incinerate a book, killing the book will not kill its ideas” (110). Expanding of Smolla’s thought, getting rid of books will not change the words and its purpose will

Clarisse’s and Mildred’s presence in Ray Bradbury's story Fahrenheit 451, gives the idea that both characters are alive but metaphorically dead by looking at their personalities and ways of being in their dystopian community and personal relationships. Clarisse and Mildred may have different personalities but they both share the same concept. Clarisse has a personality that does not exist within other people. She tends to point out on the real significance of life, which leaves characters in shock and confusion after interacting with her. As for Mildred and Montag’s relationship, Mildred shows lack of attention and love towards Montag. Mildred would pay attention more to her “family” and her friends instead of her marriage relationship. This gives Mildred the image that she is figuratively dead between her relationship with Montag. These figuratively dead characters lead to change Montag’s perspective.

“And he remembered thinking that if she died, he was certain he wouldn’t cry” (Bradburry 47). Throughout the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the crumbling relationship between Mildred and Montag leads to the breakage of their marriage and Montag finding his place in the world. The couple goes through ten years of marriage without love. This unhealthy relationship causes a miserable life for both of them. They live is a damaged society where everyone is under strict control. Books and pedestrians are banned, while killing and hurting are allowed. Mildred goes through life knowing very little about the world surrounding her, she is comfortable with being ignorant. Montag, on the other hand, is on a mission to learn more about his and Mildred’s civilization. He wants to find the root of the problem and repair it. This difference in the two individuals leads to the breaking of their relationship, and the ending of their life as they know it. Mildred’s realization that she doesn’t love Montag, Montag questioning the ways of society, and Montag reading books to Mildred and her friends leads to Mildred giving up on Montag and turning him into the government.

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a display of how humans are relying more and more on technology for entertainment at the price of their ability for intellectual development. It is a novel about technological dystopia, often compared to other novels such as, George Orwell’s 1984 and Asimov Ender’s Game. Although today’s technology has not quite caught up with Bradbury’s expectations, the threat of having his vision of a dystrophic society is very realistic. He sees a futuristic society in which this submission of thought is highly valued. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury displays a futuristic utopian society where "the people did not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations" (Mogen, Pg. 111).

First, the novel expresses the consequences of free will. Kristi Hiner says, "Through Clarisse, the unidentified woman, Millie, and Beatty, you are shown the consequences of what happens when humans aren't allowed to fully express their individuality and choice" (Hiner 1). This shows us how a world without freedom may end up. Next, Bradbury also provides an example of society without books. Hiner goes on to say, "Television, for the majority of individuals in Fahrenheit 451, does not create conflicting sentiments or cause people to think, so why would they welcome challenge?" (Hiner 1). This example helps to paint a picture of the world without books. Finally, the novel illustrates a future without socialization. Paul Brians says, "Socialization has been reduced to group television viewings, and creativity narrowed into brief moments in shows when the audience is prompted to respond to the virtual events they are witnessing, and which absorb them far more than the real world around them" (Brians 1).

In the book Fahrenheit 451 the theme is a society/world that revolves around being basically brain washed or programmed because of the lack of people not thinking for themselves concerning the loss of knowledge, and imagination from books that don't exist to them. In such stories as the Kurt Vonnegut's "You have insulted me letter" also involving censorship to better society from vulgarity and from certain aspects of life that could be seen as disruptive to day to day society which leads to censorship of language and books. Both stories deal with censorship and by that society is destructed in a certain way by the loss of knowledge from books.

In the first half of the book Bradbury demonstrates the theme through showing the emotions of others regarding to other people, focusing on Mildred in particular. In the beginning of the book Montag runs into Clarisse, a person who is not like the rest and cares about the deeper meanings. He grew fond of her, later to find out that he would never see her again, since she was dead. The news was given by Mildred in a way that seemed unpresented sympathy, “‘Four days ago. I’m not sure. But I think she’s dead. The family moved out anyway. I don’t know. But I think she’s dead,’” (44). Mildred delivers the news late and without any sympathy, instead she is unsure if her information is true. She was ignorant to how Montag felt about Clarisse; numb to the pain and this was only a product of society and their need to hide this stress in order to preserve contentment. For instance they programmed behaviors into the different ‘families’ that other homeowners own, to normalize happier emotions while sadder, melancholic emotions were discouraged to the point that it was a surprise that people felt this way in any other setting than the presence of an illegal action. This false idea of what is human became

We sit on the subways and we ride on the busses, we drown the outside world with our headphones and our television sets, and we walk on the sidewalks brushing past one another just enough to avoid physical contact so that we can continue on our "merry" way towards our next destination. As a society, we beeline our way through life, weaving between moments of rendezvous and accidental concurrence, and we surround ourselves with instruments of interference in an attempt to pull ourselves out of the day-to-day life. As they say, art imitates life, and in a very sadistic way Fahrenheit 451 imitates what we are, and what we could become. Fahrenheit depicts a future where the common people surround themselves

Fahrenheit 451 is a futuristic novel that depicts a grim United States. Montag, the main character, is a firefighter whose job is to find and destroy books by starting them on fire. In this society books are destroyed so the government can maintain effortless control over everyone. Faber, one of Montag’s mentors believes books possess a high quality that no other media can replicate. He said, “So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life.” This quote represents that books can explain or help us understand the little details of life. Since this society doesn’t have books they don’t question life or anything that they are told which makes them easy to govern. Today we have the internet, DVDs, Netflix, and many other media outlets. These new medias raise many new topics, one that would be important to Faber is that whether these medias offer the same qualities that books do.

Evidently, she is more than a dullard. Her being the status-quo is even easier to dismiss, because all one must do is look at what the status-quo actually is. The average people of Fahrenheit 451 lead empty lives, numb to their own unhappiness. They work, watch television shows and need nothing more to be satisfied. In contrast, Mildred, unstable

Theodor Adorno’s famous but controversial epigram, “There is no right life in the wrong one,” from his classic work of critical theory, Minima Moralia, has raised questions regarding whether or not this statement is just a matter of perspective. Adorno implies that the “wrong” world is in need of improvement before the “right life” can emerge. First and foremost, the concepts of “right” and “wrong” are extremely hard to judge because they lie on a spectrum. Just as there are various degrees of good and evil, there are also many ways to define what is right and what is wrong. There are many forms of a wrong life in the right life and vice versa, thus there will always be one’s own way and others’ ways.