Fahrenheit 451: Flaws In Society

Flaws in Society

In his time, Ray Bradbury was known as one of the most influential writers, dealing in the genres of fantasy, horror, mystery, and most importantly science fiction. One of his very popular novels is Fahrenheit 451, a science fiction novel that deals with social and political issues, such as censorship, violence, and lack of communication. Bradbury was introduced to the love of reading at a young age. In his youth, he already knew he wanted to be a writer. His teachers, Snow Longley Housh and Jeannet Johnson, encouraged his writing, and “taught him how to love poetry… and how to write a short story”(“Ray Bradbury” par 7). Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, is considered to be very controversial as it discusses

One of the main points he explains very thoroughly is the decline in communication in that society. The people of the novel focus more on their busy, non-stop lives than daily human necessities. Take having a in depth conversation for example. Something as basic as that would be alien to them. Based on inferences from Clarisse, “They all say the same things and nobody says anything different from anybody else” (Bradbury 31), the people of the novel have meaningless short conversations. Conflicts like this can directly equivilate to today’s society in the 21st century. Technology can be seen as the main contribution to the decline of communication in this age. People are too focused on Social Media and the Internet alone. We get caught up in the hype and development of new technology, not knowing that our social skills are slowly decreasing with each passing generation. Greenfield acknowledges this moral dilemma by stating ‘the development of in-personal social interaction by screen interaction seems to be reducing social skills’ (par

It’s their sole purpose. But what they don’t understand is that books shape the mind. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t allow their citizens to read those books. However, some people are willing to die for their books because they believe in them that much. Montag comes to this realization after Clarisse’s death. He begins to look for a teacher when he says “and I want you to teach me to understand what I read” (Bradbury 125). This shows how illegal and wrong reading was. Montag has to physically search for a teacher to help him learn what reading is. Because reading is not legal, the people’s brains in this society are stuck in the dark ages. This can correlate to today’s society as well. Reading has declined due to unimportant tasks. People are becoming lazier and are just outright uninterested in broadening their minds. Many people believe technology has a part to play in this. One author writes “the sheer busyness of our technologically immersed lives tends to prevent the kind of sustained attention that an engaging book demands” (Hallwas par. 9). This growth of unentertained reading can be seen at a young age when a young man exclaimed “I do like reading, but it’s not at the top of things I like to do” (“Decline in Reading” par. 1). People would rather watch TV, sit on their phones, or just go outside than actually pick up a good book. This is a stressing matter, and enough individuals don’t acknowledge this growing