Throughout second semester we have read many stories that have strongly illustrated the idea of conformity, but in Fahrenheit 451, Swamp Boy, and Harrison Bergeron the theme of conformity is most prevalent. The characters in each of the three stories become trapped by the act of conforming to their societal norms. The people in the societies participate in confirmation because it is what everyone else is doing, and they crave acceptance from others. As humans, we conform to the world around us because it is expected and we fear any individual that abides by the social norms. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Montag is an individual that the conformists of the society fear. The towns obedience to the law that bans knowledge and books alters the way Montag feels about the world he lives in. Unlike everyone else in the story, the books intrigue Montag and make him want to rebel and go against the law. Montag decides to step outside the bubble of conformity and steal a couple of books. One day, when Montag's wife has guests over he reads a line from the book to the guests and they don't react well to it. “Mrs.Bowles stood up and glared at Montag. You see? I knew it would happen! I’ve always said, poetry and tears, poetry and sickness; all that mush. Now I’ve had it proved to me. Youre nasty Mr.Montag, you're nasty.” (Page 97). Mildred and her friends are the perfect conformists in the story. Since it is a social norm to hate and despise books in their society, all of the women including Mrs. Bowles act appalled by the reading of the book because it is what is expected of them, and it is what is the normal thing to do. In a society where social norms are extremely valued anyone who does otherwise seems monstrous. In this scene, Montag seems like a monster to Mildred and her friends because he holds onto the one thing that everyone in the town is supposed to be afraid of. As human beings, we pick up social cues and align with the behavior around us. Mildred and her friends are so intrigued by conformity because it gives them a sense of relief and lessens the risk of judgment and denial from others. Beatty is the head firefighter and holds a lot of power in the society. Beatty wants a world where there are no
According to the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury it says, "What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up, and then they turn on you. Others can use them, too, and there you are, lost in the middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives." This evidence shows that Captain Beatty got offended when Montag was sticking up for books even when he thought it was the best thing to do.Beatty was in a situation where Montag was thinking about how the books are a good thing to us and they educate us but Beatty thought otherwise and thinks that books are traitors. In the text it states,"It's not just the woman that died," said Montag. "Last night I thought about all the kerosene I've used in the past ten years. And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books. A man had to think them up. A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper. And I'd never even thought that thought before." This shows how Montag had finally started to think about all the issues and problems that are starting to occur. Montag realizes that books aren’t meant to be burned and he thinks it’s best to stop all of this. He thinks about why books
The movie, “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, expresses many situations which we might still live in. Ray Bradbury showcased many examples where the government validated what was right for society. People were so comfortable living under censorship that they did not even imagine they were giving up their freedom of expression. The main character in the novel, a 30-year-old man named Guy Montag, became a fireman whose duties were to search for books in people’s homes and burned them. He performed his job and did not think he was harming anyone. His dad was a fireman and so was his grandfather. He felt being a fireman was a family tradition. Throughout the movie, Guy Montag rebelled against control and conformity. He had realized
Anyone who sticks out from the rest is considered dangerous. Montag’s society doesn’t find violence and suicide horrible, they are common because people are so disconnected from their real emotions. The firemen start fires instead of putting them out. Reading books is prohibited because books cause people to feel and society wants everyone to think that developing feelings are dangerous. Montag first became curious over books when he realized he wasn’t truly happy and didn’t know. “We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing. I looked around. The only thing I positively knew was gone was the books I'd burned in ten or twelve years. So I thought books might help”(Bradbury 78).The citizens of this society watch television because it supports the mindless docility their society embraces. When Clarisse asks Montag if he is happy, this question blows his mind because no one has ever asked him about his feelings nor cared to know. Even though Montag is married, his wife sneers at the idea of being in love. She only associates emotions with the artificial ones of the family on the television set. Mildred is a good example of someone who follows society’s
Conformity and ignorance go hand in hand. Fahrenheit 451, The Lego Movie, and The Twilight Zone’s ‘Obsolete Man’ are all prime examples of this statement. It is glaringly obvious in Fahrenheit 451, specifically when Clarisse is talking to Montag about how her uncle was arrested for driving slow. He was complying with all the rules and regulations of his society, yet he was still arrested. This is because he wouldn’t conform to what everyone else was doing. Mildred mentions in the book that when she needs to let out her anger she drives around fast and kills animals in the road. This is a stark contrast to Clarisse’s uncle, who wanted to drive slow in order to appreciate the beauty of life, not destroy it. This labels Clarisse’s uncle as a non-conformist, something so dangerous that you can be
Mildred Montag is the prime example of a conformist in the dystopian society portrayed in Ray Bradbury 's book, Fahrenheit 451. She thinks in the simplistic manner that people like her are conditioned to, and she 's married to a fireman, who plays the largely important role of burning books in this society. She spends her days watching the television screens in the parlor and her nights with Seashell Radios buzzing in her ears. At first glance, her life of all play and no work might seem relaxing and blissful. However, it eventually comes to mind that all of her bliss is derived from her use of technology in order to escape from reality. Even then, it will become apparent that Mildred is not actually blind to reality and that her happy
In Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” Montag starts off as seemingly normal as he goes about his job, home life and inner conscious. As elements are introduced, it is clear that psychologically he has been trained to think a certain way and live his life as if it were written, or programmed. Ray Bradbury creates this world that seems to promote “sameness” in Montag’s society, and clearly discourages any deviation of one’s job or role in society. In the course of the story, Montag ‘sinner peace is interrupted when he encounters a woman named Clarisse on his way home from work. From this moment, Montag is intrigued, and his inner psychological consciousness is impacted in a way that will change the way he sees his role in society, personal, professional, and even love life. His relationship with himself, his wife Mildred, his boss Beatty, and his coworkers, and finally the most impactful Clarisse. This affects Montag, and help him see his dystopian society for what it truly is, and how he’s been serving it.
“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.
Have you ever thought what the world would be like if everything was controlled and you had limited access to everything you have now? Conformity, censorship and equality have big parts in Fahrenheit 451, The pedestrian, and Harrison Bergeron, but do not have big rolls in life today.
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Harrison Bergeron” are both stories of a dystopian society where laws are in place that restrict everything a citizen can do and their basic human rights. Characters in Fahrenheit 451 are restricted by the threat of being removed from society, where the characters in “Harrison Bergeron” actually have physical restrictions placed on their bodies. Bradbury and Vonnegut show that the dangers of these kind of restrictions lead to conformity, and ultimately a loss of human individuality. Conformity in these two societies means that the citizens are part of the community, but are being brainwashed by a government that controls their lives.
Throughout the section in the novel of Fahrenheit 451, when Montag shows Mildred the books he has been hiding, Ray Bradbury incorporates diction to develop a frightened, outraged, and bewildered tone. Initially, the outraged tone was presented by the text, “He began to put on his clothes restlessly about the bedroom. ‘Yes, and it might be a good idea. Before I hurt someone. Did you hear Beatty? Did you listen to him? He knows all the answers. He’s right. Happiness is important. Fun is everything. And yet I kept sitting there saying to myself, I’m not happy, I’m not happy’” (Bradbury 62). Montag is unhappy about his life and is mad about what happened to the book lady; furthermore, Montag is thinking about reading books because of what
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 features a fictional and futuristic firefighter named Guy Montag. As a firefighter, Montag does not put out fires. Instead, he starts them in order to burn books and, basically, knowledge to the human race. He does not have any second thoughts about his responsibility until he meets seventeen-year-old Clarisse McClellan. She reveals many wonders of the world to Montag and causes him to rethink what he is doing in burning books. After his talks with her, the society’s obedience to the law that bans knowledge, thinking, and creativity also increasingly distresses him. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury shows conformity in the futuristic America through schooling, leisure, and fright.
“That’s awful! ...Why should I read? What for?”(Bradbury, 73) Mildred hates the fact that her house and her ‘family’ would burn down if Beatty and the other firemen found out about Montag and his books. Mildred doesn’t understand why Montag wants to reason with her and what he finds so special in books. Mildred is a selfish woman who cares only about herself and her friends. As long as nothing happened to her ‘family’, she’d be fine.
Throughout Fahrenheit 451, the recurring theme of Knowledge vs. Ignorance stirs up drama between the characters, and how they might change their ways for the better, or for the worse. In the novel, ignorance is shown to be “morally righteous,” while having knowledge is looked down upon as “inferior,” causing anger and conflict where there generally is none. For the purposes of the story, Montag goes through a crisis on whether to save the books, or keep on burning them. For every time Montag steals a book, his guilt increases, and he has to learn whether the choice he is about to make is worth it in the long run. To begin with, Montag is a great example of an ignorant citizen.
Now on both of their behalves they really did not have the same view into the dystopian society. Montag believed it was wrong to burn books, and Mildred did not care about nothing including Montag and them books. “It is easy to read the women in Fahrenheit 451 as stock, one-dimensional characters, set up only to illustrate the opposite poles between which Montag struggles.” Montag does not realize he struggles to see the differences in him and women. “Although Montag has not yet recognized the problem with this reduction of happiness to a step below hedonism, a kind of vicarious hedonism, in which even sensation is often artificially provided, Beatty seems aware of it." Beatty realizes something different before Montag has the chance to. “Before Montag can begin to recognize his connection to others and to his inhuman society, however, he needs to reconnect with himself, reestablish his relationship with the world.”
Conformity plays an intricate role in many dystopian settings. Civilization in Fahrenheit 451 is forced to purge itself of books, as community leaders, including the nefarious Captain Beatty, claim this as a necessity for the sake of general happiness. According to the governing body this drastic measure prevents individuals from forming opinions and, therefore, helps prevent discord. Any citizens found with books in their homes face dire consequences. Their houses are doused with kerosene and set alight by the notorious firemen, and should book-owners refuse to submit the books to the conflagration, the owners themselves are left to burn. This deliberate spurning of intellectual activity leads to a society dominated by, and even encourages, narrow-minded, shallow individuals who are easily manipulated by government propaganda. As the main character, a fireman named Guy Montag, begins to realize, this government-controlled, and