Comparing Fahrenheit 451 And 1984 By Ray Bradbury

Introduction

How would you feel living in a society that was completely government controlled? The characters in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and 1984 by George Orwell lived in societies that had many rules placed by the government. Although Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 are both extremely different novels, both of these novels have very similar character development, loss of individuality and technology.

Body Paragraph #1- Similar Character Development

The character development in Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 is strikingly similar in which they both have a main protagonist who doesn’t like the views of society, an antagonistic boss as well as a female protagonist who leads the main character. . In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist, Guy Montag,

In Fahrenheit 451, the society had many rules . People couldn’t read books or even have them in their possession. Without books, they would have no knowledge and without knowledge to form an opinion, they don't have any no individualism. In 1984, there were even more rules. They couldn’t make love or show any pleasure, they couldn't write in a diary and all of the written documents were altered to fit in with the views of the party. For example, Big Brothers main slogan was “ War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery , Ignorance is strength” This shows that the party wanted the people be more ignorant , have less freedom and to not care about the wars that were going on. The government is suppressed the people by making sure they don’t key into what was really going on. Another way that the characters in these novels lose their individuality is memories. In Fahrenheit 451, people don't remember important memories. An example of this when Guy realizes that him and Mildred couldn’t remember where they first met “ And suddenly she was so strange he couldn't believe he knew her st all.” ( Chapter 1 Page 42) By suppressing these memories, people aren’t able to form close relationships with anyone else. In 1984, Winston lets go of his childhood memories, dismissing them as “ false memories” . Him dismissing these memories shows the amount of control that

For instance, in Fahrenheit 451, There was a mechanical hound that was used by the government to stop anyone who was being rebellious. The hound was very fast and agile and it could inject poison in anyone who does something that didn’t fit in with the views of society. Using technology to hurt people to stop them from being rebellious was also prevalent in 1984. Winston was tortured by technology after him and Julia were taken into the Ministry of Love. The government tortured Winston by beating him and showed him his greatest fear. O’Brien also used an immensely painful device called “the dial” ( find page number) which O’Brien used to increase the pain during Winston’s questioning sessions. When the needle got to around 70-75, he finally cracked and has been fully brainwashed by the government into believing the views of society. Technology is also used to control and manipulate the people of these societies. In Fahrenheit 451, The tv’s are used to brainwash and control the people. Mildred loves interacting with the people in the tv parlour "Will you turn the parlour off?" he asked. "That's my family." Mildred said .( Bradbury, Pg 25) The government used technology to manipulate the people in Montag’s society from seeing what’s wrong. In 1984, the government used technology to control what people in this society are doing at all times. An example of this is how the government placed cameras in everyone’s