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Criticism Of Fahrenheit 451

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Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 accurately predicted the invention and addiction of earbuds. The immensely popular Seashell ear-thimbles, which constantly feed listeners propaganda and distracting noise, had turned Mildred into an "expert lip reader" (Bradbury 16). Bradbury was able to predict the convenient news source because technology had already advanced so far in his lifetime. He witnessed television averting people's attention away from their real lives, and imagined that the trend of technology absorbing lives would only rise as technology advanced.
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Bradbury demonstrates the manipulative hold the government has on its people by creating false history about firemen that everyone believes to be true. In the firehouse station, Montag reads the statement about firehouses, "Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the Colonies." (Bradbury 32). The government lies to the public to convince them that their backwards society is functional, and always has been.
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One of the most salient quotes in Fahrenheit 451 is Clarisse's uncle's line: "Well, after all, this is the age of disposable tissue" (Bradbury 15). Reading this made me feel pity for the society because they live without loving, and without realizing they do not love. People have become so detached, other humans are merely objects that exist, rather than irreplaceable friends and family members. Unfortunately, Clarisse's uncle is one of the few who can analyze the state of society.
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