Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a book that is put in the feature and the firefighters’ job is to burn books or magazines because the books or magazines could give the people knowledge. During the book, Guy Montag’s job is to burn any books or paper but he feels as if there is an attraction between him and the books. Through Montag’s journey, he went through a couple of different scenarios in which he could have made different choices. Montag made some decisions that were good throughout the book and also he made a couple of bad decisions throughout the book that could have affected how the book was going to be laid out. One choice that could have gone either way for Montag was his choice of showing his books to his wife.
As Guy explains the burning of the woman in her own house’s fire to a confused Mildred, he realizes, “There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing” (Bradbury 48). Books have been banned, meaning no one is able to gain knowledge from them, and any remaining books must be burned. Guy realizes that books must hold significant importance if the woman was willing to give her life in protest of the burning of her books. Montag describes the idea of the content of the books as “something we can’t imagine,” showing that he and other people in his society are so out of touch with literature that they cannot fathom what it expresses.
A multitude of books in all generations, from Anthem by Ayn Rand to Divergent by Veronica Roth, often revolve around one simple topic: the power of being different from everyone else. In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the reader is introduced to Guy Montag, who ostensibly is conformed to his indoctrinating society, but inwardly knows something is missing from the society. However, Montag’s meeting of one person—one “different” person—leads him to truly discover the aspect of life that society has tried to hide and destroy from the population; the spread of creative ideas. Fahrenheit 451 elucidates how the mindless pull of sameness can degrade a society, and how one individual who can escape complete conformity to a mind-numbing
Although there will be people who would want a world where no one is better than anyone else, I believe that it is impossible to have complete conformity among the populace because of the fact that we as people need to change all the time. Nobody is able to just keep the same routine for too long before they decide to move on. In Ray Bradbury’s book, Fahrenheit 451, he talks about a world where everyone yields to conformity, and there are bound to be people who think differently than the government wants them to. The government makes a point to say that if someone steps out of line, there will be serious if not deadly consequences. There are also people who do exactly as the government wants them to.
In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury the society is a dystopian society, which is a society that is as dehumanizing and unpleasant as possible. The way this society deals with the government is through conformity, which is an act of matching attitudes and beliefs. Many of the main characters conform to the government because it is what they are suppose to do because they don't know anything other than that. This is mostly because individuality is not accepted in this society because of its tendency to start problems. However, Individuality gives a person their identity, which allows them to express the different unique personalities they have from others.
In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the main theme of conformity and censorship develops throughout Guy Montag’s experiences as he becomes aware of these things. Conformity of society comes from the censorship that the government tries to subtly implement on it citizens. In Guy becoming aware of these tactics in the favour of the government, he realizes that they attempt to brainwash citizens and make them more complacent, and thus, easier to control. His awakening to these facts allows for him to become aware of the reality of the world that he lives in; brainwashing and falsification are the most relevant aspects of his society.
As humans, we naturally have the urge to question why things happen the way they do, or why we have trouble obeying social pressure unquestionably, but what if we no longer wanted to understand the truth of life surrounding us. In the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, written by Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, the Characters are taught to live their lives questioning as little as possible and enjoying the easy, peaceful life while conforming to society's rules of censorship without raising issues about true happiness. The main characters Montag, Clarisse, and Mildred show how mandatory conformity impacts people's actions differently which leads to great harm. The society in the novel Fahrenheit 451, was created as a way to abolish
Do you choose to conform? or is it something you do without even thinking about it? Conformity is a theme consistently found throughout Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury illustrates how conformity is not always a choice and not conforming is a choice through the characters Montag, Faber and Mildred. Some people spend their entire life conforming to society, and can not imagine what being an independant thinker is.
“A time to keep silent and a time to speak,” (158) is a quote from the book Fahrenheit 451. This novel is all about how people conform to a society that burns books. They do so because they make people “think” thoughts that the government doesn’t want them to. Though there are some who are not conformed and read books to enlighten themselves to the ways of the past, that changes the way they see the present. Mildred, Faber, and Clarisse are characters that represent different aspects of conformity or nonconformity in the Fahrenheit 451 society.
Bradbury uses characters to embody the repercussions of excessive conformity in the form of discontentment. As "Bradbury's message is not in... any single one-dimensional character," many characters contribute to his theme of conformity (Connor 416). Guy Montag and Captain Beatty, in particular, represent the unhappiness from forced submission and the resulting casualty. Guy, a fireman who was previously enthralled in book burning, realised the repression it wrought and he revolted against the system he once submitted to.
To comfort her friend into obediently listening to Montag’s book of poetry, Mrs. Phelps remarks that “‘if we listen nice, Mr. Montag will be happy and then maybe we can go on and do something else’” (95). Even though Mrs. Phelps isn’t agreeing to follow the majority in this circumstance, she still is promoting submission through conformity to a person in a position of power. She attempts to make listening to literature, a highly illegal crime in their society, seem like no big deal by using positive language like “nice” and “happy.” Those words put a positive spin on submission of self, all in hopes that “Mr. Montag will be happy.”
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 conformity and individuality is something to talk about. Conformity and individuality are very important themes in Fahrenheit 451 and in modern life. The novel demonstrates how individuality is very rare. Is about modern America. Without individuality today, everyone would not be different and would follow someone else trends and everything about them.
In society, some people have conflicts with things and people around them. In Fahrenheit 451, the main character, Montag, has to burn books for a living. Montag’s life began to change when he has a decision to steal, hide, and read the books, or turn the books in and act like everyone else. Ray Bradbury shows Montag’s conflict with his wife, a friend, and technology in Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury uses Mildred, Montag’s wife, to show how everyone there is like robots.
Mindless entertainment and biased media could eventually lead to a conformist world rid of complex thought. Fahrenheit 451 is an accurate depiction of a future where intricate thinking and having different world views is discouraged. Conformity is enforced, books are burned, and almost everyone is ignorant about societal issues. Guy Montag, a fireman, starts to notice this after meeting a strange girl, and then tries to seek justice by committing various acts of treason throughout the book. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury shows how the lack of intellectual content and individuality can falter society into a place rid of complex thought and multiple idealisms.
(STEWE-2) Besides asking questions about society’s relationships, Montag questions further and starts asking about society’s rules on burning books after he experiences a woman burn with her books. He says to Mildred, “'There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there.'" (Bradbury 48). Montag, before, had blindly followed and enforced society’s rules about burning books.
