Fahrenheit 451
Tamika Adams
Prof. Kordich
English 68
10 June 2013 Dreams that Destroy Freedom
American culture thrives on being ‘the land of the free’. The rags-to-riches story to the immigrant success story, seem to define the American Dream. We are told that these achievements can be done by adapting to America’s ideals and cultural norms. The ‘American Dream’ is attainable for those who fall in step with the majority. This conformity is illustrated in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In the novel, Guy Montag becomes disillusioned with the illiterate ignorance of his society. Through a series of tragic events, Montag finds the vapid world must be changed. This change will be the only way to attain true knowledge, thus freedom. This society, based in ‘fiction’, echoes many of the same values encouraged by the American Dream. By considering the values of media influence, ideal appearance and importance of the nature, it is clear that the American Dream in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 makes its occupants ignorant and selfish. .
Within Bradbury’s Fahrenheit, media is used as tool to eliminate a thoughtful society. The government creates ignorance through the empty television programming the citizens are exposed to. For example, Montag arrives home and finds Mildred and her guests watching senseless streams of incoherent images. As Montag watches the women from a removed area of the room while the walls projected, “Abruptly the room took off on a rocket flight into the clouds...A minute later, Three White Cartoon Clowns chopped off each other’s limbs to the accompaniment of immense incoming tides of laughter” (Bradbury 94). The programming that the women are viewing has absolutely no quality content. It serves as solely just stimulation not enrichment. The images are bright, brief and shocking to dazzle them into submission. This type of entertainment creates minds that are overstimulated and become dependent. These minds have no time for inward reflection, while they are
Prof. Kordich
English 68
10 June 2013 Dreams that Destroy Freedom
American culture thrives on being ‘the land of the free’. The rags-to-riches story to the immigrant success story, seem to define the American Dream. We are told that these achievements can be done by adapting to America’s ideals and cultural norms. The ‘American Dream’ is attainable for those who fall in step with the majority. This conformity is illustrated in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In the novel, Guy Montag becomes disillusioned with the illiterate ignorance of his society. Through a series of tragic events, Montag finds the vapid world must be changed. This change will be the only way to attain true knowledge, thus freedom. This society, based in ‘fiction’, echoes many of the same values encouraged by the American Dream. By considering the values of media influence, ideal appearance and importance of the nature, it is clear that the American Dream in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 makes its occupants ignorant and selfish. .
Within Bradbury’s Fahrenheit, media is used as tool to eliminate a thoughtful society. The government creates ignorance through the empty television programming the citizens are exposed to. For example, Montag arrives home and finds Mildred and her guests watching senseless streams of incoherent images. As Montag watches the women from a removed area of the room while the walls projected, “Abruptly the room took off on a rocket flight into the clouds...A minute later, Three White Cartoon Clowns chopped off each other’s limbs to the accompaniment of immense incoming tides of laughter” (Bradbury 94). The programming that the women are viewing has absolutely no quality content. It serves as solely just stimulation not enrichment. The images are bright, brief and shocking to dazzle them into submission. This type of entertainment creates minds that are overstimulated and become dependent. These minds have no time for inward reflection, while they are