Conformity In Fahrenheit 451 Essay

Do you choose to conform? or is it something you do without even thinking about it? Conformity is a theme consistently found throughout Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury illustrates how conformity is not always a choice and not conforming is a choice through the characters Montag, Faber and Mildred. Some people spend their entire life conforming to society, and can not imagine what being an independant thinker is. Montag’s wife Mildred is an example of someone who conforms to society and can not imagine a lifestyle outside the one she has. In Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 Mildred says to Montag “books aren’t people. You, read and I looked all around, but there isn’t anybody! Now, my family is people. They tell me things: I laugh, they laugh! And the colors!” (73). This shows Mildred has been brainwashed by conformist propaganda displayed around her society and on

In Fahrenheit 451 the character Faber is an old English professor who chose not to speak out when his society began burning books. In Fahrenheit 451 Faber says to Montag “Mr. Montag, you are looking at a coward. I saw the way things were going, a long time back. I said nothing.” This shows sometimes people do not want to conform but they are too afraid to speak out. This means Faber is actually choosing to conform to society even though unlike Mildred Faber has already been enlightened to the truth.

When most people are born they conform to the ideologies of their parents and communities, they don’t choose to conform, however they can choose not to conform. In the beginning of Fahrenheit 451 Montag is a conformist who burns books for a living; however as the book progresses Montag begins to read books and his opinions on the way his society is changes. In Fahrenheit 451 Faber tells Montag “pity, Montag, pity. Don’t haggle and nag them; you were so recently of them yourself.”