Examples Of Warnings In Fahrenheit 451

Bradbury’s Warning in Fahrenheit 451

In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury is clearly warning the reader about what will happen if people continue to have an extensive dependence on technology. Bradbury exhibits his warning throughout the novel by depicting how technology is destructive and anesthetizing. He also shows the addictive nature of technology, and how people remain “plugged in” for most of the day, causing them to have a lack of emotions and empathy. Bradbury also demonstrates how technology makes people become more ignorant and unintelligent because of the lack of learning and thinking. Ray Bradbury is undoubtedly warning the reader about what will happen if people continue to have a reliance on technology.

Throughout the

Because people put so much value and time into unproductive technology, they often do not learn anything. One clear example of this is the firemen. Instead of putting out fires, these firemen light books on fire. The firemen destroy knowledge and promote ignorance, which equalizes the population and obstructs uniqueness. Because of the government and firemen promoting ignorance, the vast majority of the population is incredibly ignorant. For example, Captain Beatty, although he has a great deal of knowledge from books, never uses the knowledge for enlightenment. When Montag returns to the fire station after being sick, Beatty states, “Read a few lines and off you go over the cliff. Bang, you’re ready to blow up the world, chop off heads, knock down women and children, destroy authority”( Bradbury 102 ). This quote clearly shows Beatty’s true feelings about books and knowledge. He is disgusted and repulsed by knowledge, and instead, leads a tedious and uninteresting life. However, because of the lack of knowledge, Beatty, like many other men, is on the verge of committing suicide. After Montag is forced to burn his own house by Beatty, Beatty keeps approaching Montag even though Montag held a flamethrower. Montag eventually kills Beatty, and later, while running away, he realizes “Beatty had wanted to die”( Bradbury 116 ). Beatty wants to die because he is extremely unhappy and, because he has read books, understands what society has lost. He believes life is meaningless without books and has no hope that knowledge will make a return in the future. It is unmistakable that in Beatty’s eyes, he has nothing to live for. Because of the lack of books and the abundance of technology, people in the novel became extremely ignorant. Unfortunately, it is very similar in today’s world. Many people prioritize unproductive technology over learning, and because of that, many people are very