Fahrenheit 451 Conformity

Individuality is feared because it is seen as a threat in a society expects all citizens to conform. Individuality is when a particular person is aware of what is happening around them, while conformity is when a person’s behavior is in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, characters in the book show the relationship between conformity and individuality because those who conform, follow society’s rules while individuals still conform in a way, but retain their individuality by showing that they are physically and mentally mindful of their actions.

While Montag is on the run in the streets, he hears through a Seashell a command for everyone to look for him, and his mind pictures a very realistic image: “He imagined thousands on thousands of faces peering into yards, into alleys, and into the sky, faces hid by curtains, pale, night-frightened faces, like gray animals peering from electric caves, faces with gray colorless eyes, gray tongues and gray thoughts looking out through the numb flesh of his face” (132). He pictures “thousands on thousands” of people conforming to the will of an upper government, no questions asked. They all will do exactly as told, but something about the image seems especially unsettling. The word “gray” was repeated four times and connected to every phrase describing them. This color is often associated with blandness and lack of unique color, and

In Ray Bradbury’s novel, censorship is implemented in an odd way through the dystopian society. Firemen in today’s time are ordinarily known for “those who put out fires,” but the role of firemen in this story is completely different. They are the enforcers of the censorship law and are called when there is a suspect known hiding books in their home. Montag who is the prime character and fireman starts the story with a quote saying, “It was a pleasure to burn” (3). This confirms that firemen in the dystopian society seem to take their jobs as book burners with satisfaction. When Guy Montag awakes in the novel and questions the reasons why books are considered dangerous and to be burned. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag had said, “There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” He realizes that if someone dies for books they must be doing something right.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “That government is best which governs least…”. In Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury, the government puts extreme laws in place to “protect” the people. Except, that these laws keep the citizens from knowing the truth. The good laws like speed limit aren’t enforced and the things that shouldn’t matter, like owning a book, are so strongly enforced, that if it is you that is found to own a book, your house will be burnt down. The government keeps everyone in check by censoring the citizens. During the 1950’s, the entire country was in fear of communism. There was a blacklist of authors, actors, and public figures. No one would hire them or buy their work. Bradbury wanted to warn the country of what could happen if it continued being ignorant , and by using pathos, rhetorical questions, and repetition, he effectively conveyed his purpose.

According to the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Rollo May’s quote “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it’s conformity” is inaccurate because for what these people in the society conformed to, is a coward act on it’s own. To go ahead and follow something you don’t have knowledge on with the stakes so high and then not give others a voice when they bring viewpoints that differ to what you originally conformed to, is known as a cowardly act. Conforming is just a cover up stuck in ignorance and stubbornness, an excuse for cowardice.

The dystopian novel, “Fahrenheit 451” was written by Ray Bradbury in the 1950’s. It tells the story of a 30 year old fireman, Guy Montag. He starts out as loyal to his society which was a burden to heavy censorship and an upcoming war. After a series of events, he’s in pursuit of breaking free of it. The author uses censorship to demonstrate a good example of what it would be like to live in a world where society had no knowledge.

“ Don't step on the toes of the dog lovers, the cat lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormons,

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.

Introduction Ray Bradbury, a famous author, said, “There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.” In Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, a fireman named Montag changes his views on his society. The society he lives in starts the fire and burns books instead of extinguishing the fires and reading the books. Also, reading books is forbidden, and people spend their days watching tv.

Fahrenheit 451 is one of the hundreds of books that contains multiple instances of social commentary. In the novel, Ray Bradbury critiques the citizens as well as their home society, which refer to the censorship the government imposes on the society. Notwithstanding the possible effects, the citizens’ minds drastically change due to the amount of brainwashing they received throughout the years to destroy all of their community’s past. Initially, we can see this when we read that the firemen are completely different than what we know today in comparison to what they formerly were. Firemen now burn houses that carried traces of books on fire to substitute the old style of extinguishing already lit fires. Little do they know that what they’re doing has a lasting impact on the people of their communities.. We see this when Montag ultimately realizes why they burn the books after talking to Clarisse McClellan, the young, perfect-looking woman that Montag finds waiting outside of the fire station one night. Montag couldn’t let anyone know what he was thinking or doing unless he wanted his life to brutally come to an end. Bradbury grew up during the times of censorship as well as the technological advancements. With these changes, a lot of the people worried about the lives of their people, Bradbury consisting of this population of people. He wrote this Novel to demonstrate what life would be like if these changes grew out of hand. During the time Bradbury wrote the book,

Conformity, known as working in unison with authorities serves an essential role in making the global community function through policies and set of laws that are regulated upon a vast population. John F. Kennedy, an American politician sheds a different light on conformity than what it is commonly understood as through his famous quote, "Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth." This quote reveals the increasing control conformity has taken on one's mind, promoting the importance of being accepted by others rather than accepting one's own individual personality and capabilities. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury demonstrates conformity as a mask that hides one from the raw inner soul, abolishing one's freedom to think

Censorship is an issue that civilizations have struggled with for hundreds of years. The question that leaders ask themselves is, “Is censorship the problem or solution?” In Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, he finds the solution. The novel is set in the future where books are banned, and firefighters set houses on fire that hold books. The main character, Montag, is a firefighter that hates his life and his occupation.

“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.” (Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart). This quote is showing exactly what the government in the dystopia of Fahrenheit 451 is doing wrong to the society. Written by Ray Bradbury in 1953, this book is set in the 24th century, where the population is controlled and books are illegal. The protagonist, Guy Montag, is a fireman in charge of burning any book that is found. The problem with the society, which relates to the quote above, is that the government has used censorship of knowledge and ideas to control the people; they did this in three major ways:

Censorship in Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451 shows an extreme example of censorship in a dystopian future. In this future firemen are employed to burn books and real information of any kind is banned. The main character, Guy Montag, is a firefighter who burns books, he eventually rebels and decides that information is important. The truly terrifying aspect of the world is that it is not just the government who censor but the people themselves who do no wish to learn anything.

The use of censorship to examine and eliminate elements in media that are found to be unorthodox or radical has been prevalent in society for centuries. Through censorship, ideas found to be objectionable or offensive are repressed. In his prophetic novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury denotes the common practice of government censorship of books as a suppressive and marginalizing concept for humans because it strips them of the realities, truths, and meaning behind books and deprives them the freedom to deliberate and act on them. The protagonist, Guy Montag lives in a futuristic, American society and is a ‘firemen’; a group of men that deflect the old conventional purpose of stopping fires, to creating