Current Society

Fahrenheit 451 and Current American Society The novel Fahrenheit 451 reflects current American society in many ways. A couple of these ways are one, television is a reason for people losing interest in books and is causing negative effects, two in the book there are people who are rebelling from societies rules by keeping books in their minds. They are disobeying the law and that is similar to current American society there are many people rebelling from the governments rules. First of all, television is causing negative effects. In the book Fahrenheit 451 Clarisse talks about how cars drive really fast and that one time her “uncle drove slowly on a highway once. He drove forty miles an hour and they jailed him for two days (Bradbury 9).” This shows how their lives are very fast paced, the people watch TV because it fits with the pace of their lives and books don’t. In current America people’s lives are fast paced similar to the book, many people I’ve talked to say that reading is to time and energy consuming. People have also said that it takes less effort to watch TV than concentrating on a book. People in both societies have fast paced lives and have better things to do than read a book. Studies have shown that children spend more time watching TV than reading books. According to Caroline Knorr, “Zero- to 8-year-olds spend an average of 1 hour and 40 minutes per day watching television and DVDs, compared to 29 minutes reading or being read to. Babies and toddlers under age 2 spend more than twice as much time watching television and DVDs (53 minutes) as they do reading or being read to (23 minutes) (Knorr).” To me this shows that people aren’t making time to read because watching TV fits in with fast paced lives and is more convenient than reading. When reading a book you never know how long it will take because it takes time and concentration. In the book, Clarisse makes it clear her world has plenty of violence. She says, “I’m afraid of children my own

Cited: Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. 1953. New York: Del Rey-Random House, 1981. Knorr, Caroline. "TV vs. Books: What 's Winning Your Kids ' Time? | Common Sense Media." TV vs. Books: What 's Winning Your Kids ' Time? | Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media, 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. . Huff, Ethan. "Watching Television Causes Aggressive Behavior in Young Children." Watching Television Causes Aggressive Behavior in Young Children. Natural News, 05 Feb. 2010. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. .