Fahrenheit 451 Technology Quotes

Fahrenheit 451 is a book by Ray Bradbury, written after World War II and it examines the corruption of technology in a dystopian society. This book explains how a dystopian society works and how people are so attached to television and cars and do not enjoy the natural world. People in a dystopian society are full of fear and sadness. They do not have equality or freedom, they are all so soaked up in technology that it is illegal for them to do simple stuff, such as, reading books. The book, Fahrenheit 451 explains how firefighters start fires rather than stopping them. A firefighter’s job is do burn books, since books are illegal to have because they go against the power of technology and modernization. In a dystopian society, people should be unhappy, unequal, violent, and brutalized and that is what is exactly being seen throughout this book. As Ray Bradbury captures the attention of many readers, he captures our attention on how the future could be if technology would become so extreme. Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451 is not about control, but it is a novel about how television destroys curiosity in reading literature.

The population is obsessed with the technology that overwhelms every part of life. When Faber is talking to Montag, he explains the situation of society. He explains, “If you’re not driving hundred miles an hour, at a clip where you can’t think of anything else but the danger, then you’re playing some game or sitting in some room where you can’t argue with the four-wall televisor.” (Bradbury 86). Montag recognized this with Mildred, because every time he walked into their house, “the walls were always talking to Mildred (Bradbury 42). Before, Mildred had stated to Montag, “My ‘family’ is people.” (Bradbury 75). Society is submerged so deep in technology, that it is the only way of life now. The reality shows on television are people’s “family”, because that is all they know. The only world that exists to them is the world with the four walls. There is no compensation to the technological need,

“The average American watches more than five hours of live television every day”; this means that nearly one-fourth of an American’s day focuses on gluing their eyes on box (Hinckley). The quote describes how society today spends their free time and how unproductive people have become. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, one particular character describes the way society today behaves: Mildred Montag. The protagonist, Guy Montag’s, wife spends most of her time watching her favorite TV show. She even wants to buy more TVs even though buying another TV would cost Montag “one-third of [his] yearly pay” and she already has three; her actions indirectly portrays her lazy and ignorant behavior (Bradbury 18). Bradbury’s depiction of Mildred and how people can relate to her today in Fahrenheit 451 alludes that: as technology advances along with mankind, Bradbury’s prediction of a lazy and ignorant society describes the society

The characters in Fahrenheit 451 are addicted to the technology that is in their society. One character that exemplifies this technology addiction is Mildred. The technology that she is the most obsessive over is the parlor walls. The parlor walls can best be described as televisions covering all the walls of an entire room. While most parlor walls have four televisions, Montag’s and Mildred’s parlor walls only have three. Mildred questions Montag by saying, “How long do you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall –TV put in? It’s only two-thousand dollars” (20). Montag responds with “That’s one-third of my yearly pay” (20) and is astonished by how naive Mildred is. Mildred is so blindsided by her beloved parlor walls, that she doesn’t even recognize how lazy she is and how hard that Montag works to provide for her. She doesn’t see or understand the bigger picture, she only sees the parlor walls as most important. Mildred expects to get another parlor wall because she is addicted to them. In another statement, she says a rude comment in return to Montag asking, “Will you turn the parlor off?” (49). Mildred responds with, “That’s my family” (49) and doesn’t give it a second thought. Even though Montag and Mildred are married, Mildred says that the parlor walls are her family and implies that they are more of a

(STEWE-1) Montag wants to be heard and no one cares to listen because they are so where else. “‘Nobody listens anymore. I can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say’”(Bradbury 78). Montag has emotions and wants someone to hear for what he has to say. People are being self-centered and don’t even pay attention to the real world. No one even notices that there is a war going on. (STEWE-2) “‘Maybe the books can get us out of the cave. They just might stop us from making rather same damn mistakes’”(Bradbury 70). No one in Montag’s society does not know much because they don’t care about the books, when really they should because books can give you the knowledge that you want. (SIP-B) By Mildred and everyone else in the society leaning more and more on technology, they have all gained selfishness, and they all run on instructions, and everyone is the same person. (STEWE-1) "The small crystal bottle of sleeping tablets which earlier today had been filled with thirty capsules and which now lay uncapped and empty in the light if the tiny flare"(Bradbury 11). People like Mildred keep forgetting that they are taking these pills and are not focusing about themselves and they could commit suicide. These people are overwhelmed with the technology and people are trying to kill themselves. Maybe everyone is doing the same thing. (STEWE-2). (CS) People like Montag and Clarisse who get away from technology, understand that there is more than technology in this world and they realize that there is a thing called

Not only does technology lead the society’s people to live a life of isolation, but technology leads the people into feelings of loneliness. The inhabitant’s self-centeredness, along with isolation, causes them to lose their sense of curiosity and knowledge; which induces feelings that they cannot quite seem to understand. In order to push aside their insecurities, they turn to technology to drown out their thoughts, which prevents curiosity to occur. Another cause for feelings of loneliness, is people’s lack of affection towards one another. For example, even though Guy Montag and Mildred are married, they do not share a deep emotional connection with each other or affection like married people usually do. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag asks Mildred when did they first meet, but Mildred does not have any idea according to the dialogue, “When did we meet, and where?” [Asked Montag]... ”I don’t know,” [Mildred] said… “Funny, how funny, not to remember where or when you met your husband or wife” (Bradbury 40). If both of them were to have a meaningful relationship with affection, they were sure to remember where they met in the first place. Also, instead of having normal conversations, Mildred always isolates herself from Guy using her “seashells” and the “parlor walls”. Montag then has no one to

Therefore, through books, Montag becomes conscious of the monotony of his previous life, and now rebels against the very foundations of his society. Due to this intellectual illumination, Montag begins to acknowledge the details of the world around him, details he had once ignored: ‘”Bet I know something else you don’t. There’s dew on the grass this morning.”’As enlightenment dawns on Montag, he finally begins to realise the power within books (i.e. they hold the key to power through knowledge) and this is his ‘crime’ against society: ‘There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house...’ Despite his newfound interest, Montag is still struggling to understand the concept of literature. Once again however, Montag is pushed in the right direction by Professor Faber. Under Faber’s guidance, Montag recognises that ‘There is nothing magical about [books] at all. The magic is only with what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment.’ This quote exemplifies the fact that although books are the combination of mere ink and paper, it is the beliefs and the knowledge within a book that are so incredibly powerful.

As of December 31, 2013, about 2 billion people on the Earth use the internet. That’s about 40% of the world’s population, since the total population is about 7 billion. Technology plays a major role in guiding people’s perceptions and misconceptions. In modern times, technology is a major part of our society, and how we live everyday. However, in other parts of the world technology is not a large influence on their culture. For example, the Matsigenka tribe in the Peruvian Amazon lacks advanced technology. This leads the tribe members to view the outside world differently than Americans do. The attention and popularity of technology are blinding people from the world, as demonstrated by the Matsigenka tribe, since they are not consumed and

Society’s dependence on technology has proven to impair communication skills. In the novel, Mildred and her friends serve as a powerful example of this. One night, Mildred held a social gathering at her house, which consisted of watching movies. Montag, the novel's main character, increasingly became more distressed and pulled the TV plug. He proclaimed, “Let’s talk” (Bradbury 271). The women’s reaction to the proclamation suggests they were uncomfortable. The novel states, “The woman jerked and stared” (272). As Montag asks them questions about their lives, they struggle to answer. As a result of making technology the center of their lives, these women were unable to hold a simple conversation. In addition, following 15 years of research,

“In the last 50 years, up to 100,000 Americans lost their lives due to inactivity leading to some sort of conditional disease such as heart disease [including the laziness within people of society]” (Wise 12). So many people have died from becoming lazy, doing nothing but go on their phones, devices, rather than doing everyday things. Technology has changed the way society approaches life, always depending on it rather than themselves and others. The society today consists of nothing but TV screens, telephone, smartphones, iPads, and items the 19th century would consider a dream to lay hands on. A book written by Bradbury presents lack of effort people put into their lives and society; Bradbury predicts how the future will become later on in the society. Becoming more similar to the laziness and ignorance in the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the society today struggles the society today struggles with dependency on technology which results to lack of social interactions with one another and failure in becoming literate with books.

People believe that an abundance of technology and fast, busy lives are beneficial to more efficient and overall better society. In reality, that lifestyle may be a detriment to society. The culture, characters, and themes in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 create an interesting dystopian setting that serves as a warning to future readers.

From the mechanical hound to the giant TV’s in the wall, technology in Fahrenheit 451 has proven to have a large impact on their society. However, interactions between Montag, his wife, and his wife’s friends emphasize the awkward interactions. Jennifer Alsip complains about her daughter ruining dinner time. Jennifer is infuriated that her daughter’s phone keeps ringing during dinner time and she always has the need to check it immediately (Wallace). The one technology that she bought for her daughter is creating havoc in her house. Although technology has become more relevant in today’s society with computer science innovations and social media, the effects include people becoming socially inept.

When technology is overused, social interaction can be hindered and an obsession may be formed. Montag’s, wife Mildred, develops a relationship with technology that ultimately affects her both mentally and socially. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury describes various pieces of technology. The first electronic device the reader encounters is the seashell radio, which are tiny radios similar to ear buds. Mildred wears them frequently, so often, that she even wears them to bed. “There had been no night in the last two years that Mildred had not swum that sea.”(pg 10). This quote used to describe Mildred's relationship with the seashell radio conveys how much technology has influenced her.

Montag is sick, physically and emotionally. Realizing his wife would rather watch TV than care for him; that the world is an empty, cruel place; and that there are things out there which are worth dying for makes him even more so. Technology starts to become a main influence on the actions of the people in society. Montag’s wife, Mildred, is said to have “lost herself in technology”. She confines herself in the living room of the couple’s house to three life-sized television screen walls. These walls speak to her and hold conversations with her more than actual people do. Mildred yells at Montag for turning off her “family”. Montag is her husband, but Mildred relates fictional programmed characters to her only family. The issue of technology technically brainwashes the people of this science fiction society. People believe that if technology gets more advanced it would end society because people would probably forget about everything. Bradbury thinks that with technology surrounding us, people will stop reading books. If people stop reading books they will forget about things that are extremely important, which include history, how and why people act in different ways, how life began, and other things that are important today but with technology they are going to fade away. Another thing that could happen if

Today, teens are spending one third of their day using technology according to a new study released by Common Sense Media. That is a whole nine hours spent mindlessly surfing the web or watching cat videos. In the science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury writes a social commentary on what the future may look like if technology continues to be overused. In his dystopia, all books are banned and the government controls almost every aspect of people’s lives by brainwashing them with technology. Firemen burn down people’s houses who have books, Guy Montag being one of them. Slowly, Montag starts to question his society and steal books, to the dismay of his technology obsessed wife, Mildred. Bradbury uses Mildred as a symbol of societal corruption to highlight the dangers of excessively using technology.