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Fahrenheit 451 Conformity Quotes

Decent Essays

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. Mildred, the main character Guy Montag’s wife, equates a coward. In this particular scene, Montag has arrived with Captain Beatty and the other firemen ready to burn down another house …show more content…

The men watch as Mildred flees from the house in a hurry with a distraught look on her face, murmuring. “Poor family, poor family, oh everything gone, everything, everything gone now…” (Bradbury page 108) Mildred is a strong candidate of someone who is a coward in the Fahrenheit 451 society. Her husband Montag had recently shown her his life long secret and had asked her the only favor ever, to keep his secret about stealing illegal books. Instead, Mildred showed her ignorance and was stubborn about changing for the right reasons, committing a cowardly act of snitching on Montag, therefore conforming once again to the terrible, lying community they live in. Mildred lives a pathetic, lonely life consisting of her loved ones which only contained televisions. In the quote, while Mildred was running from the house, she was worrying and feeling regretful but not for Montag, for leaving her “family” behind. Montag on the other hand, differs from Mildred. He started off his life as a conformist and became courageous through others opening his

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