Farhenheit 451 Essay

Fahrenheit 451: In-Class Essay

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury describes a dystopian world in which books are burnt and the people are anti-intellectual. In the book, Bradbury depicts how a society without books and intellectuals falls apart into a society without true emotions or individuality. Firemen burn books rather than putting out fires and people are always glued to their television screens. Montag, the main character works as a fireman and at first, conforms to the rest of the society. This all changes when he meets a young girl named Clarisse who opened his eyes to what was really happening. Montag eventually picks up a book and begins to read. This leads him to free-thinking and he eventually sees the flaws of his society. The book presents several daunting portrayals of what people could become without free-thinking. We must be aware of how our society might become like this, and prevent it as well. However, there are already similarities between our world as we know it and Bradbury's dystopian world. One can better recognize these similarities between the society in Fahrenheit 451 and our own by observing the advancement of technology, the decline of free-thinking, and conformity of the masses.

When one looks closely at the current society, many similarities to Bradbury's dystopian society are discovered. When you look at modern technology, you can see how it has had some negative effects on the people. Like Fahrenheit 451, the rise of technology has made technology a bigger and bigger part of our lives. People spend hours on the internet or television every day, watching pointless videos or browsing the web, which gives us less and less time to sit down and think. This corresponds to the seashells and parlor walls which the people in Bradbury's society are constantly intrigued in, becoming anti-intellectual. Another similarity that can be observed is the lack of free-thinking. Often we see shortened versions of books, censored books, or movies that only depict parts of books. People frequently want instant gratification, so things become faster and faster, which leads to less imagination. Without imagination, the down fall creativity and thinking begins, leading to no more thinking of new things, no more questioning of authorities, and ultimately submission without a thought to authorities as well. Furthermore, conformity of the masses is another issue we often see in today's society. Much like the society in Fahrenheit 451 people are becoming more and more like each other with the lack of individuality. People all want to be "normal" and forget to be themselves just because everyone else does it. We must be aware of all of these warning signs and avoid a similar dystopian like the society Bradbury has described.

The society in Fahrenheit 451 seems so malevolent; however, our own society today has many similarities that we must