The Threats of Technology In today’s society, technology is a very useful tool that is used all over the world. However, in the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, technology is used as a control over citizens. The dystopian fiction is about a man named Guy Montag who is a fireman in the town. During the time in the book, firemen burn books, because they are considered “evil.” After Montag meets his neighbor Clarisse, he sees how burning books may be unnecessary. Also, he realizes that technology may be controlling society and even his wife, Mildred. In the novel, one’s identity can be lost if one is being controlled by someone or something else. Mildred and her friends are sucked into the screens around them, and they seem to not know what is happening in real life. For example, Mildred sees …show more content…
For example, when Mildred’s friends are over and Montag asks where the husbands are, one of the women says, “Pete was called yesterday and they said he’d be back next week” (Bradbury 91). After Montag asks where he’s been called to and gets his answer that he’s fighting in the war the same lady tells Montag, “He said if I get killed off, you just go right ahead and don’t cry, but get married again, and don’t think of me” (Bradbury 91). Technology is brainwashing the women into not even caring if their husband is dead or not. The screens and seashells in their ears are rotting their brains and making them so they don’t have any feelings or desires in life. In addition, when Montag asks where he and Mildred met she replies, “I don’t know” which shows she is so persuaded by watching the screens that she can’t remember a big moment in her life (Bradbury 40). The government is using all of this equipment that they have access to and using it on people just so there are no ideas in the world. The consequences and effects of technology are truly shown through Mildred and her friends’
When Mildred is with her technology she will not pay attention to anything but her objects. Since the society uses there technology to much they always want to keep there objects near them. Montag makes a joke that if he wants to talk to him, then he will need to use technology too. “Wasn’t there an old joke about the wife who talked so much on the telephone that her desperate husband ran out to the nearest store and telephoned her to ask what's for dinner?” (39).
Montag’s wife is obsessed with technology. “And in her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind”(Bradbury.) The book talks about how technology can be harmful because Mildred is using technology to distract herself and that can also be true in real life
Mildred, Montag’s wife, constantly has her seashell earbuds in her ears, or is watching the huge wall-sized TVs in the parlor. While Montag is thinking about life before technology took over most people’s subconscious, Mildred is watching the parlor walls. It is shown here, “Montag turned and looked at his wife, who sat in the middle of the parlor talking to an announcer, who in turn was talking to her”(pg. 63). Mildred has allowed the technology around her take control of her emotions, and it has made her believe that she is happy. Not only does she act mindless with how engulfed she is with electronics,
One point in the story when this is relevant is when Montag tries to get Mildred to read the books that he stole, but Mildred instead goes to answer the phone and starts talking to someone about a television show that is playing. This shows that Mildred may have a short attention span and does not care about anything but her television. When Montag gets fed up with the constant background noise echoing from the parlor room walls, he asks her if her television family loves her. To this, Mildred looks at him with confusion and asks him “Why [he would] ask a silly question like that” (73). This proves that Mildred is so consumed by technology, that she doesn’t even realize the grasp it has on her.
One prime example of how conformity can harm society is the use of technology in the novel. The seashell earbuds, for instance, serve as a barrier between Mildred and her husband. By using the earbuds to escape from reality and drown out her emotions, Mildred cannot connect with Montag. As the narrator describes, "And in her ears, the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind" (page 10). The technology used in the novel ultimately prevents individuals from communicating effectively and leads to a lack of emotional connections.
How Technology Affects Society in Fahrenheit 451 Robin Sharma once said, “An addiction to distraction is the end of your creative production.” Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a dystopian novel about the future. The protagonist in Fahrenheit 451, is Guy Montag, a fireman who struggles to find his “happiness” which is an issue with multiple civilians.
She interacts with them as if they are actually there. Mildred confides in her technological family more than she does her actual, human husband. For instance, Mildred has been married to Montag for many years, yet she is still unable to have deep conversations with him, which is evident in her short, blunt responses. Through her consistent use of technology, Mildred becomes more and more disconnected from reality and, as a result, isolates herself from Montag. The effects of overusing technology are also
Have you ever questioned how much technology can affect you? Technology can affect many factors of your daily life because, when people tend to use technology it’s like they’re trapped in their world and distracted from life. Throughout the book, Bradbury shows how technology impacts the characters in his dystopian novel. Mildred, who is Montag’s wife, uses technology so much it has changed her mindset completely.
Mildred, Montag's wife, is the perfect example of this loss because she is emotionally cold and dependent on the parlor walls and seashell radios. Their superficial connections point out the loneliness that characterizes the technophobic world and their lack of depth and authenticity. Bradbury warns against ignoring empathy and real human ties by emphasizing the loss of emotion. Overuse of technology can result in emotional withdrawal, and a failure to recognise or respond to the emotional needs of others. This separation from emotions has the potential to ultimately dehumanize people and destroy society.
In the novel Fahrenheit 451, advanced technology, unless used with care can be destructive to a productive society. The novel calls upon this theme many times as the story and characters progress and change. The story is set years in the future, in a dystopian civilization. Such a vile society sensors the people that live there, enforcing ignorance upon them. The main character, Guy Montag, fights to bring back knowledge and books to the society with the help of a retired professor Faber, who remembers the days of when knowledge was about.
Not only do the citizens live the same way everyday, but they seem like walking corpses. Mildred Montag, Guy’s wife, is the best representation of an average person in society. She only goes the motions of life, but shows no sign of truly thinking about what she is doing. She is engulfed in the technology available and it affects her in depressing ways. She is less of a human being due to the constant technology use: “her Seashell was tamped in her ear again and she was listening to far people in far places, her eyes wide and staring at the fathoms of blackness above her in the ceiling” (Bradbury 39).
Mildred views her parlor walls as real people, and as a result, she opts for screen time over time with Montag. Mildred’s addiction to technology creates distance in their marriage, and Montag views her as a stranger. This kind of addiction is not uncommon in Montag’s world, and we can infer that most of his society is unsettlingly reliant on technology for news, human interaction, and entertainment. We see a similar phenomenon in our own world as we become increasingly reliant on technology for basic function. By overusing technology, we neglect other aspects of our lives such as hobbies, staying active, and most importantly, personal relationships.
Mildred’s response to Montag’s rant about reading is found here, “Books aren’t people. You read and I look all around, but there isn’t anybody… Now, my ‘family’ is people. They tell me things; I laugh, they laugh!”(Bradbury 69). Put simply, this evidence highlights how Mildred believes books aren’t conscious, and therefore insignificant, however, she believes that technology, a tv show, is important. Bradbury utilizes the metaphor “my family” to demonstrate how vital technology had become to Mildred’s life, emphasizing how that affects Montag.
The concept of technology being dangerous is clearly present in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 through the use of a variety of electronic devices. The Mechanical Hound, the interactive "parlour walls," and the firemen all are involved in humanity's destruction in different ways. Complacency and a lack of critical thinking are two more characteristics of human nature that contribute to the destruction of these technologies. The risks of censorship and the suppression of ideas are represented by the firemen, who are in charge of burning books and other kinds of knowledge. Because education is restricted and books are prohibited in this society, people lack critical thinking skills and empathy.
In Fahrenheit 451, Mildred’s “deep” connection to the parlor and her refusal to turn it off affects her relationship with Montag because she spends more time communicating with technology than with her husband. During one of the few conversations between Montag and Mildred, Montag asks “‘Will you turn the parlor off?,’” to which Mildred responds, “‘That’s my family…’ ‘I’ll turn it down.’” (Bradbury 46). Mildred’s acknowledgment of the parlor as her family proves how technology has taken a more personal role in her life.