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Conformity In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

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In a dystopian world of Bradbury, society is expected to conform to the government’s rules, typically through propaganda or technology. The citizens' perspectives on life is limited and constricted because of the mass spread of propaganda. They are led to believe that they are happy, when in reality they are living in a state of oblivion. When people are unaware of what is going on, their thinking is limited. This causes a lack of new, creative ideas, restricting the society’s ability to grow and improve. This is shown in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, where Guy Montag, a firefighter who burns and destroys books, realizes that he isn’t truly happy, and that books contain the answer to being free. Opposing him is Captain Beatty, his boss …show more content…

After Montag and the other firemen burn down a man’s house filled with books, he “trie[s] to imagine […] just how it would feel […] to have firemen burn [their] houses and [their] books” (Bradbury 37). Bradbury characterizes Montag as empathetic by showing that he is putting himself in another person’s shoes and wondering what they would have felt. He is becoming aware that his job isn’t as perfect as he thought it was, and realizes that hewhat he does harms people. Bradbury reveals how Montag slowly transitions into becoming someone who doesn’t conform to society . Bradbury builds on this transformation by using freedom and happiness as an example. When Montag seeks help, he explains that “[they] have everything [they] need to be happy, but [they] aren’t happy. Something’s missing…[he] thought books might help” (84). Montag is characterized as an outsider and a rebel because he realizes that nobody is truly happy. After all, they can’t see past all the technology. Even with almost any kind of entertainment at Montag’s disposal, he refuses to blend in because he is starting to learn that everyone is mindless. Bradbury takes this a step further when Montag “thought books might help”. Books were believed to be dangerous, but Montag figuresd out that they could be the answer to breaking free of the chains of conformity. By depicting Montag as an individualist, Bradbury shows how freedom can be achieved through becoming a free

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