Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: Dystopian Society

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury shows examples of several philosophies. Bradbury writes examples of Utilitarianism, Conformism, and Leaderless Resistance. These ideas are conveyed thoroughly in the novel and have prominent examples. By understanding these philosophies, the audience can comprehend the book on a deeper level. Utilitarianism-

“When someone truly cares about you, they give effort, not an excuse”~Zig Ziglar. Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, has a theme of relationships decaying because of technology. The protagonist, montag and his wife mildred slowly grow apart throughout the book because of technology. As mildred becomes more and more obsessed with technology, motag strives to keep their relationship alive. Only to find that Mildred will not put forth the same amount of effort instead she gives excuses.

In the novel “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, Montag becomes increasingly upset at his wife and her friends due to the way they ignore their emotions with superficial conversation and television. When the women talk about their husbands, for instance, Montag notices just how unattached the women are to their own emotions. Mrs. Phelps recalls her husband saying “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). Montag notices how nonchalant she was she spoke, as if her husband meant nothing to her. Montag is outraged because he sees this as parallel to his own life as he earlier realized he would not cry over his own wife’s death.

The novel, Fahrenheit 451, presents a future society where books are prohibited and the firemen burn any that are. The title is the temperature at which books burn. It was written by Ray Bradbury and first published in October 1953. In this novel, protagonist Montag changes his understanding in various aspects such as love or his human relationship throughout the book. However, among all of these, fire – the main theme of this novel – has the most significance as it also changes his understanding of knowledge from books.

In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the time setting is the 24th century placed in the most negative type of society. The novel is predicated on a thirty year old man named Montag. Montag lives in a day of age where house are fireproof and Tv screens are the size of the wall. In this dystopian, Montag is a fireman but not the kind of fireman that takes fires out, he sets books on fire.

In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the character known as Montag is ironic. On the first page of the novel, it states “With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world,...” This shows irony because Montag is introduced to the readers as a fireman. This quote explains to us that Montag is the one shooting venomous kerosene at the world, or in other words he is the one making the fire. Montag’s wife, Mildred however does not show irony, but shows lackadaisical behavior.

In one of Ray Bradbury’s novel, Farenheit 451, the author portrays a dystopian society throughout part two, The Sieve and the Sand. One reason the society is dystopian is because of the ordinary citizens, like Mildred, is dependent on technology. In the middle of the afternoon, Montag wanted to read books with his wife so they read books together but as he was reading the book aloud, Mildred noticed, “The parlor was dead and [she] kept peering in at it with a blank expression” (Bradbury 71). While Montag is so focused on the book that he is reading, Mildred worries about the parlor, her ‘family’. She cannot live without technology because she doesn’t give any effort for other things even for a short amount of time besides watching the parlor.

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Montag, who initially conforms to societal standards unquestioningly, transforms into a rebellious character who deviates from government expectations; he discerns that when one diverges from the norm, they can question society’s motives and rebel against government oppression. Montag originally conforms without hesitation. He learns from the books and begins to doubt and question the ideals he once upheld. Upon his choice to rebel against the dystopia, Montag escalates the impact and size of his personal rebellions. The realization that he is a mirror image of the ideologies imposed upon himself and the citizens prompts a transformation and vindictive uprising against the oppressive government.

In the book, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, it is set in a corrupt future where the government has a certain power over the people by censoring the outside world, by burning books. In this corrupt future the government censors books by burning them. A former fireman rises and begins to fight the government by working together with a former English professor to bring books back into this rough future. In the process of this chaos the main character Montag’s home town is now in the midst of a war, people vs. government, and he heads back to try and save some of his fellow citizens who so desperately need his help. Ray Bradbury uses symbols such as technology, firemen, and hounds to show censorship and how the government controls the people.

Fahrenheit 451, originally a novel, depicts the time of censorship and large industrial development. In this futuristic American society, firefighters burnt books rather than extinguishing fires. The government banned books and depicted them to be useless, offensive and more severely, mind ruining. Moreover, the libraries disappeared and teachers did not teach students to think but rather to memorize and follow instructions. The protagonist, Guy Montag, who undoubtedly worked as a fire fighter later saw through the government’s suppression after talking with an unusual woman, Clarisse.