Technology and Society in Fahrenheit 451
Do you think that living in a technical world would destroy society? Well, in Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, technology is very advanced and seems to get people's attention. "You're not important. You're not anything" (Bradbury 163). Fahrenheit 451 is explained as a dystopian literature. Such literature portrays an imaginary world where misguided attempts to create a utopia, or a socially and politically perfect place, results in “large scale human misery." (Critique by Michael M. Levy) This quote makes you realize that technology is taking over humans and the world has to do something about it. By creating an “utopia”, Fahrenheit 451 requires the government to take away citizen’s rights and freedoms to create the perfect society.
Fahrenheit 451 is expressed as so "frightening in its implications" [New York Times], and so ironically simplistic in its word choice. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the novel devoted to denouncing the adage, "Ignorance is bliss". This novel provides a glance into a bleak world similar to our own (almost too similar) where war is common, feelings are shunned, family is non-existent, and thought is no longer an individual's query. To facilitate this last criterion of Bradbury's world, books have been banned, condemned to be burned on sight along with their possessors. And who should be the policemen of this world of ignorance? The "firemen" are not unlike the firemen in our world today, they dress alike, drive big trucks, and wail their loud sirens. There is one fundamental difference, however-these firemen start fires; they cleanse the evil books of their existence. And who should personify the heartless, unfeeling, cold fireman but Guy Montag. “So it was the hand that started it all . . . His hands had been infected, and soon it would be his arms . . . His hands were ravenous.” (Bradbury, Fahrenheit, pt. 1). This quote demonstrates Montag’s position on destruction. His career told him to destroy, and in this society, destruction was
Fahrenheit 451 is expressed as so "frightening in its implications" [New York Times], and so ironically simplistic in its word choice. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the novel devoted to denouncing the adage, "Ignorance is bliss". This novel provides a glance into a bleak world similar to our own (almost too similar) where war is common, feelings are shunned, family is non-existent, and thought is no longer an individual's query. To facilitate this last criterion of Bradbury's world, books have been banned, condemned to be burned on sight along with their possessors. And who should be the policemen of this world of ignorance? The "firemen" are not unlike the firemen in our world today, they dress alike, drive big trucks, and wail their loud sirens. There is one fundamental difference, however-these firemen start fires; they cleanse the evil books of their existence. And who should personify the heartless, unfeeling, cold fireman but Guy Montag. “So it was the hand that started it all . . . His hands had been infected, and soon it would be his arms . . . His hands were ravenous.” (Bradbury, Fahrenheit, pt. 1). This quote demonstrates Montag’s position on destruction. His career told him to destroy, and in this society, destruction was
Bibliography: Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. Print. " 'Fahrenheit 451 ' Quotes." Books & Literature Classics. About.com. Web. 26 May 2011. <http://classiclit.about.com/od/fahrenheit451rb/a/aa_f451quotes.htm>. "Fahrenheit 451." Wikiquote. Web. 26 May 2011. <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451>. "Fahrenheit 451 Technology and Modernization Quotes." Shmoop: Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. Web. 26 May 2011. <http://www.shmoop.com/fahrenheit-451/technology-modernization-quotes.html>. "Fahrenheit Criticism." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 26 May 2011. <http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/fahrenheit>.