Dangers Of Technology In Fahrenheit 451 And The Illustrated Man

When Two Worlds Collide Have you ever thought of billboards that stretch two hundred miles because cars are zooming by so fast. How about kids that become so obsessed with their house and playroom that they program it to kill their parents? These strange concepts and more are found in the writings of Ray bradbury. A dark dystopian future where things aren’t quite right, and the impossible becomes a reality, is an underlying current in his stories. Fahrenheit 451 and The Illustrated Man explore complex themes that address dangers of technology, the search for happiness, and the dangers of obsession.

The pitfalls of technology are one of the main complications in Ray Brabury’s work. In Fahrenheit 451, we see technology go wrong when a mechanical hound is searching for Montag, the main character, and kills the wrong person on purpose so that the people watching the chase on T.V. don’t get bored. This same theme is also evident in The Illustrated Man when in the story “The Veldt '', these spoiled kids get so wrapped up in their technological playroom that they end up killing their parents. This is also present in the story “Marionettes Inc.” when a man is tired of his life that he buys a clone, but the clone turns on him and takes his place in life. Both examples

In “Fahrenheit 451”, Montag is searching for happiness through the worn pages of banned books. In search of this happiness, he causes destruction in his world. In “The Illustrated Man”, the story, “The Other Foot” the African Americans leave Earth during the Civil Rights movement to live on Mars. They search for happiness and leave their hometown behind. Eventually the white men cause so much destruction and wars that Earth is no longer inhabitable. They leave in search of a home and are willing to do whatever the African Americans ask of them. We can see how both white and black search for happiness but only one finds true