Meaninglessness And Themes In Fahrenheit 451, By Ray Bradbury

Imagine living in a world where you are not in control of your own thoughts. Imagine living in a world in which all the great thinkers of the past have been blurred from existence. Imagine living in a world where life no longer involves beauty, but instead a controlled system that the government is capable of manipulating. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, such a world is brought to the awareness of the reader through a description of the impacts of censorship and forced conformity on people living in a futuristic society. In this society, all works of literature have become a symbol of unnecessary controversy and are outlawed. Individuality and thought is outlawed. The human mind is

Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury provides many social criticisms; one of the more prominent social criticisms is drug abuse in society. In the beginning of the novel, Mildred, Montag’s wife, overdosed on sleeping pills, leaving her paralyzed and uncommunicative. Mildred was described as, “...a snow-covered island upon which rain might fall, but it felt no rain; over which clouds might pass their moving shadows, but she felt no shadow. There was only the singing of the thimble-wasps in her tamped-shut ears, and her eyes all glass, and breath going in and out, softly, faintly, in and out her nostrils, and her not caring whether it came or went, went or came.” (Bradbury 11). Within the quote, Bradbury uses the literary devices such as imagery and diction to create a negative view towards drug abuse. With the use of negative and contrasting vocabulary, the author presents the pessimistic view towards drug abuse. Drug abuse causes a person to become completely numb from everything else around them, which Bradbury portrays through his negative diction. Imagery is another

73). However, when Guy asks her if her 'family ' loves her with "all their heart and soul," (pg. 77) she is at a loss for words. Much like what happens when Clarisse asks Guy whether or not he is happy, this question forces Mildred to think strictly about what is real. It reminds her that deep down, she knows that her 'family ' consists of fictional characters who cannot harbor real emotions and thus, cannot requite her love for them. This is part of the awareness that she refuses to acknowledge, and she is stunned when Guy 's question catches her in her disguise. Unfortunately, she does not accept that she has a problem and proceeds to change the subject in response to his question. Towards the end of the book, when Mildred leaves the house as the firemen arrive to burn it, it can be inferred that technology does not have the effect on her that she desires, and that it cannot save her from her reality. One can recall that earlier in the story, an old woman chooses to stay in her house and burn along with her books, causing Guy to realize that books can help people to find in their lives a meaning that does not exist in his or Mildred 's. Mildred does not stay to burn with the parlor that she makes such a big deal out of throughout the course of the book. In this way, she inadvertently proves that the parlor and the other forms of technology she attaches herself to, do not provide her life with any

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.

This reflect remembers Montag’s description of Clarisse as a mirror in The Hearth and the Salamander. Granger clearly sees that they need to evaluate who they really are before they start doing new things. Mirrors in the book Fahrenheit 451 are symbols or self-understanding of seeing oneself clearly. Mirrors can also be symbols of seeing who you really are from the outside to the inside. “Come on now, we’re going to go build a mirror factory first and put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them” (Bradbury

Visual media, such as the computer and television distract people from the natural world, and instead blinds them from reality. Fahrenheit 451 exposes the idea that mass visual media initiates problems of violence, unawareness, and ignorance. The advanced technology causes the people of society to stray farther away from reality, and they become trapped in their own world of unawareness. Thus, unlike in nature where everything is free, the advanced technology confines people within the boundaries that technology allows. The boundaries created by visual media imprison the people of society into a world of mental incapacity and illiteracy. This unfamiliarity with the world, shown by numerous characters, shows how society is negligent. For

Montag is someone who is shy and keeps his thoughts to himself, but thinks many things. He shows that he is distracted instead of being happy throughout the book. At the time, he was walking home from work and was looking at Clarisse. Clarisse is a girl who would roam the streets and was also Montag's neighbor. She walks over to Guy and they start to have a conversation while walking to their houses. They discussing if talking about to see if Montag is really happy or if he was lying. She keeps questioning him. Bradbury explains “He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as true state affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run across the lawn with the mask and the way

The average person in our society spends 7-8 hours a day(The Washington Post) using technology; that is stuff like television, video games, surfing the web, etc. Let that set in; that’s a long time. Our society procrastinates also is constantly distracted by technology like no other. We are practically glued to technology; before we become slaves of technology we must change that. The theme of technology in Fahrenheit 451 informs us that the overuse of technology makes people lazy/procrastinate, that technology will overpower people’s lives, and technology takes away from people’s education.

Everybody has gone through something that has shaped changed them in a way that they could never go back to the person they were. In life, pain and suffering changes people and often causes one to restructure their life. As well, suffering can either define an individual or to allow for spiritual growth. This is especially true in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, as even though both Mildred and Clarisse differ in their perceptions toward life and their effect on Montag, both must eventually suffer the reality of a society consumed by insensitivity to push along Montag’s journey. All in all, one will view that it was necessary for both Clarisse and Mildred to experience death to allow for Montag’s journey to come to full circle.

The character of Montag expresses the theme of the ability to think for oneself and the importance of self-reflection. The main character Montag transforms throughout the story. At first, Montag is content with his job as a fireman. Montag is comfortable with his life. Shortly into the story, the character of Clarisse McClean is introduced. Montag tells Clarisse, “You think too many things” (Bradbury 6). Reading further Bradbury’s dialog between Clarisse and Montag demonstrations Montag lacks critical thinking. Clarisse enlightens Montag and the character of Montag awakens. Montag begins to understand the world around him and comes to realize he is unhappy. In a way, Montag rebels against his society. Montag begins to think for himself. Montag reflected upon his happiness and the theme of self-reflection is conveyed for the first time within the novel. “He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back” (Bradbury 9). It wasn’t until Clarisse asked Montag “are you happy” did Montag stop to consider if he was happy. Bradbury expresses the importance of self-reflection by displaying Montag as content and then developing Montag’s character to awaken and identify he is unhappy. In addition, Bradbury illustrates the ability to think for oneself creates happiness. Bradbury creates an overzealous Montag towards the end of

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a display of how humans are relying more and more on technology for entertainment at the price of their ability for intellectual development. It is a novel about technological dystopia, often compared to other novels such as, George Orwell’s 1984 and Asimov Ender’s Game. Although today’s technology has not quite caught up with Bradbury’s expectations, the threat of having his vision of a dystrophic society is very realistic. He sees a futuristic society in which this submission of thought is highly valued. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury displays a futuristic utopian society where "the people did not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations" (Mogen, Pg. 111).

In the book Fahrenheit 451 the theme is a society/world that revolves around being basically brain washed or programmed because of the lack of people not thinking for themselves concerning the loss of knowledge, and imagination from books that don't exist to them. In such stories as the Kurt Vonnegut's "You have insulted me letter" also involving censorship to better society from vulgarity and from certain aspects of life that could be seen as disruptive to day to day society which leads to censorship of language and books. Both stories deal with censorship and by that society is destructed in a certain way by the loss of knowledge from books.

“The parlor was dead and Mildred kept peering in at it with a blank expression as Montag paced the floor and came back and squatted down and read a page as many as ten times, aloud.” Only reason she was paying him attention was because the parlor walls were dead. “I’m not angry,” Montag said, surprised- Mildred shrieked with laughter in the hall.”

In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, irony is used to convey information and it contributes to the overall theme of the novel. Written during the era of McCarthyism, Fahrenheit 451 is about a society where books are illegal. This society believes that being intellectual is bad and that a lot of things that are easily accessible today should be censored. The overall message of the book is that censorship is not beneficial to society, and that it could cause great harm to one’s intelligence and social abilities. An analysis of irony in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury shows that this literary technique is effective in contributing to the overall theme of the novel because it gives more than one perspective on how censorship can negatively affect

Ray Bradbury 's novel, Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953, depicts a grim and also quite feasible prediction of a futuristic world. In Bradbury 's technology-obsessed society, a clear view of the horrific effects that a fixation for mindlessness would have on a civilization shows through his writing. Being carefree is encouraged while people who think "outside the box" are swiftly and effectively removed. The technology Bradbury 's society is designed to keep the people uninformed, which the vast majority of are happily and voluntarily in their ignorant state. There are many details in this novel that suggest that the future of a society obsessed with advanced technology is not