Fahrenheit 451

Technologies Downfall on Society
Over many years technology has become a big part of our society. Technology can be good for researching and providing us with information, but it can also have a negative effect. In Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury indicates that the different technology used in his book have a harmful effect on their civilization. Three different technologies that lead to the downfall of society are the mechanical hound, the television, and the blood transfusion machine. The mechanical hound leads to nervousness, the television leads to dispiritedness and the blood transfusion machine leads to addiction.
Ray Bradbury has made a clear indication that many of the civilians are nervous to even think or do as they please. The reason for this is that the mechanical hound walks around the streets and as soon as you are doing something that is not what they want then you will die. This is clearly a downfall on society because everyone is living in fear and instead of being yourself you have to be what the government feels is how everyone should be. In other words, no one is allowed to do anything how they want it’s almost as if their society is being run by a dictator. For example in Fahrenheit 451 Beatty said “You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can’t have our minorities upset and stirred.” (63) He said this because he knew what Montag was hiding and he was giving Montag a chance to get rid of the book, or he would be dead. This quote shoes us that everyone is living in fear and can’t be themselves and that everything has to go by the “rules”.
Dispiritedness from technology will destroy ones relationship with their spouse, family member, or friends. For example, in the beginning of the novel when Montag comes home from his book burning job he explains how Mildred is focused on the television. “In the late afternoon it rained and the entire world was dark gray. He stood in the hall of his house, putting on his badge with the orange salamander burning across it. He stood looking up at the air-conditioning vent in the hall for a long time. His wife in the TV parlor paused long enough from reading her script to glance up.” (20). Throughout the book there is several times where Montag doesn’t want to go home because he doesn’t want to have to deal with being alone. Even though Mildred is there with him it’s like she really is not there. Even though Montag did say he was happy when Clarisse asked, as soon as he walked into his house he immediately said twice “I am not happy” “I am not happy”.
The blood transfusion machine is, in my mind, the key reason why Mildred is addicted to pills. The reason why I believe this is because if there wasn’t a machine that kind of brought you back to life after overdosing then why won’t they? When Montag comes home from work he find Mildred almost dead lying on the bed “Her face was like 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 shadows. 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 in came or went, went or came.” (14) If it wasn’t for the blood transfusion machine then I feel that anyone, not just Mildred, would be more cautious about overdosing on pills or any other drug for that matter.
Throughout Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury emphasizes how theses few technologies are destroying their society. His main point that he is trying to reach is that even though technology in the story is completely different from ours, it still has similar downfalls to technology in our society. Ultimately, the reasons why these technologies are downfall to society is because it leads to nervousness, dispiritedness, and addiction.