preview

Fahrenheit 451 Technology Essay

Better Essays

The Detriments of a Digitized Era Set in a futuristic society, Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 revolves around Guy Montag, a fireman who is employed to burn books and arrest those who have books in their possession. Montag starts off as the average fireman, one who does not question societal norms, especially those relating to books and other sources of knowledge. However, as the story goes on, Montag begins to reevaluate his stance on this topic, especially after he witnesses a woman die during one of his fire department’s missions because she does not wish to be separated from her books as they burn. However, though Montag undergoes a large change over the course of this novel, his wife, Mildred, does not. She remains the same person …show more content…

Furthermore, after Montag requests that Mildred turn the parlor down for him, a “sick man,” she does absolutely “nothing” to the parlor and comes back, which demonstrates that Mildred is not willing to sacrifice her comforts of the wall TVs, even for the health and well-being of her husband. This highlights the fact that Mildred does not care about her husband, as she does not lower the volume of the parlor walls by even a fraction, and that she cares more about her own luxury of the parlor walls. Bradbury’s use of words in this section effectively communicates that Mildred is more emotionally attached to the “family” in the parlor walls than her real family, which illustrates that a large reliance on technology renders one more emotionally connected to technology than to actual people. Later on in the novel, Mildred sends an alarm to the fire department because her husband has hidden books in their home. As the fire truck pulls into their driveway, Mildred “shove[d] the valise in the waiting beetle, climb[s] in, and [sits] mumbling, ‘Poor family, poor family, oh everything gone, everything, everything gone now’” (114). Once again, Mildred refers to the parlor walls as her “family.” Bradbury’s use of this word to describe Mildred’s connection to the parlor walls implies that the characters on the screen are real people with whom she has emotional attachments. Moreover, Mildred

Get Access