Nukes are used during war in Fahrenheit 451 quite frequently. It is the Fahrenheit 451 society’s way of completely eliminating threat. In modern society, only two nukes have been used in war by the United States against Japan in World War II. Modern American society and the society in Fahrenheit 451 are similar because they both have used nuclear weapons, and they have both used nuclear weapons to end or prevent wars. The government of the United States in Fahrenheit 451 recklessly used nuclear weapons to destroy the city that Guy Montag lives in just to prevent a revolution against its government. The quote “The first bomb struck” (Bradbury 152), indicates the bomb going off. It further explains how the bomb levels the city and something as big as a bomb is clear evidence of how careless the …show more content…
government has become to kill innocent members of society. However, modern American society has chosen to only use it’s bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a reminder of how deadly, and unwise atom bombs are. Albert Einstein was in close association with the development of the atom bomb, and he said, “I made one great mistake in my life... when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification - the danger that the Germans would make them. (Clark pg. 752)” (Albert Einstein and the Atomic Bomb). Along with Einsteins words, many agree that atom bombs are overpowered and deadly weapons in modern American society, but in the Fahrenheit 451 universe, every citizen is too clueless to recognize the governments tyranny and over use of atomic bombs. In the short film 2081, a film by Chandler Tupper based on “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. depicts there is news broadcast on television for anyone to watch. In modern American society, Americans have access to watch news all the time as well. Their citizens both have the leisure of watching the news, however, the way that the news is broadcast and told is very different between the two worlds. The universe of 2081 contains citizens in a futuristic version of America, and they are all made equal by an overruling government. This government has only allowed television to provide citizens with one news channel, and it is completely government controlled. This tyrannical body has infested itself into the minds of its citizens. Even its own news anchors have trouble comprehending the power that the government has when one says on a live report, “G...g...g...goo...gooo...good evening! We’ve just received a warning from the Handic...cc...the Handicap...p...p... the Handicap...p...p...the Handicapper G...g...g...the Hand...d…” (Tupper 3). In modern American society, there are many news channels that are not controlled by the government, and they can be horribly biased or only based on fact. Americans of modern society have the freedom of press. This freedom is named in the first amendment, and entitles individuals to express and share news as long as it does not endanger society. In the United States Constitution, the first amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” (US Constitution First Amendment). There are many more freedoms that citizens of the modern United States have that citizens of America in 2081 don’t have, which makes both societies easily distinguished. The book The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater illustrates an island were poverty resides. The island borders seas that are full of dangerous blood-thirsty water horses called capall uisce. Modern American society has its own version of horses, but they are much less ravenous. In both societies, they use their version of horses for racing. The Scorpio Races island has annual races where riders have weeks to train a water horse. In modern society, horses are allowed to be trained as much as the rider wishes. In The Scorpio Races, these water horses occasionally come out of the water during the night to feast on the inhabitants of the island and any other animal or livestock it can find, “our parents tried hard to shield us from the realities of the uisce horses, but it was impossible to avoid it. Friends would miss school because an uisce horse had killed their dog overnight” (Stiefvater 14). The capall uisce’s angry proclivities and the mystical sensation of being drawn to water makes it especially difficult for riders to train and become the victor of the Scorpio Races. Today’s world has mostly friendly horses and the only dangers of riding horses in races is falling off. “Horses are highly social and emotional animals. They feel just as we do, they form bonds, build friendships just as we do, they deserve respect, understanding, and compassion” (Boswell). Horses are proven to be much more fitting for a companion, or at least an animal for racing today, rather than the perilous water horses. There are distinguished differences and similarities from the demonstrated nuclear power in the novel Fahrenheit 451, the depressing news in the short film “2081, Harrison Bergeron”, and race horses used in the poor community in the book The Scorpio Races when compared to modern American society.
It is incredible how different versions of America are portrayed in literature, and how in futuristic versions of America try to harness the power of true happiness. A lot of happiness is derived from things that make people sad, and because future America is blind to see this, they instead try to provide any resource that one might need to be temporarily happy. Typically the body of government in these works is responsible for humans sadness because it eliminates the possibility to be sad, therefore eliminating danger, or jealousy, even though that is what makes humans somewhat happy in the first place. Every conflict in these dystopian pieces of literature could be resolved by the government simply having a proper definition of ‘happiness’ and then fulfilling it for people. It is quite clear why one would label these novels as ‘dystopian’, because of the pathetic society
displayed. Works Cited Baltzell, George W. “Constitution of the United States - We the People.” Constitution for the United States - We the People, constitutionus.com/. Citing the Constitution to prove freedom of press Boswell, Karyn. “3 Misconceptions That Cause Harm to Horses.” One Green Planet, 4 Sept. 2017, www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/misconceptions-that-cause-harm-to-horses/. Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451: Fahrenheit 451 - the Temperature of Which Book Paper Catches Fire and Burns .. Simon & Schuster, 2013. Found textual evidence to support thesis Long, Doug. “ALBERT EINSTEIN.” Albert Einstein and the Atomic Bomb, www.doug-long.com/einstein.htm. Stiefvater, Maggie. Scorpio Races. Scholastic, 2017. Used to compare race horses to race horses in modern American society Tuttle, Chandler. 2081: Everyone Will Finally Be Equal Transcript. 2009. Used to compare one society to the other. Based on Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
In literature there are over 20 different genres of reading, and each of them contains many similarities and differences. Science fiction, arguably one of the most popular genre’s, is also one of the hardest to understand, however there are certain elements/characteristics that can easily determine if a book is or is not science fiction. The characteristics that make up science fiction are, advancements in technology and the application of advanced technology. In books such as The Veldt and Fahrenheit 451 both technological advancements and there application play a crucial role on determining that these books fall into the science fiction genre.
The bureaucratically controlled Fahrenheit 451 society and the technologically controlled Gattaca society depict similar, as well as different, aspects of dystopian dehumanization. There are also commonalities shared by Vincent and Montag in their struggles of gaining some control of their life, and staying under the radar while persevering to fulfill a desire that goes against societal conformity, yet they also contrast each other in some aspects.
Are you really happy? Or are you sad about something? Sad about life or money, or your job? Any of these things you can be sad of. Most likely you feel discontentment a few times a day and you still call yourself happy. These are the questions that Guy Montag asks himself in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In this book people are thinking they are happy with their lives. This is only because life is going so fast that they think they are but really there is things to be sad about. Montag has finally met Clarisse, the one person in his society that stops to smell the roses still. She is the one that gets him thinking about how his life really is sad and he was just moving too fast to see it. He realizes that he is sad about pretty much everything in his life and that the government tries to trick the people by listening to the parlor and the seashells. This is just to distract people from actual emotions. People are always in a hurry. They have 200 foot billboards for people driving because they are driving so fast that they need more time to see the advertisement. Now I am going to show you who are happy and not happy in the book and how our society today is also unhappy.
“Revealing the truth is like lighting a match. It can bring light or it can set your world on fire” (Sydney Rogers). In other words revealing the truth hurts and it can either solve things or it can make them much worse. This quote relates to Fahrenheit 451 because Montag was hiding a huge book stash, and once he revealed it to his wife, Mildred everything went downhill. Our relationships are complete opposites. There are many differences between Fahrenheit 451 and our society, they just have a different way of seeing life.
You take advantage of your life every day. Have you ever wondered why? You never really think about how much independence you have and how some of us treat books like they’re useless. What you don’t realize is that both of those things are the reason that we live in such a free society. If we didn’t have books and independence, we would treat death and many other important things as if it were no big deal. That is the whole point of Ray Bradbury writing this book.
In Federalist 10 James Madison argued that while factions are inevitable, they might have interests adverse to the rights of other citizens. Madison’s solution was the implementation of a Democratic form of government. He felt that majority rule would not eliminate factions, but it would not allow them to be as powerful as they were. With majority rule this would force all parties affiliate and all social classes from the rich white to the poor minorities to work together and for everyone’s opinion and views to be heard.
It is commonplace for individuals to envision a perfect world; a utopian reality in which the world is a paradise, with equality, happiness and ideal perfection. Unfortunately, we live in a dystopian society and our world today is far from perfection. John Savage, from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, V, from V for Vendetta by James McTeigue and Offred, from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Attwood, are all characters in a dystopian society. A dystopia is the vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable and are characterized by oppression, corruption of government, and abridgement of human rights.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Fahrenheit 451 share two main characters that are seemingly lost in the unknown. Both Chief Bromden and Guy Montag are protagonist in the respective novels. These two characters both have a false sense of reality; however, this is the only reality they know. Bromden and Montag have little sense of what the world they live in has to offer. However things start to change for both of these men when they start to receive guidance from their counterparts, Randle McMurphy and Clarisse McClellan. Both of these characters become the catalyst for the freedom and liberation that Bromden and Montag come to find.
Kurt Vonnegut’s science fiction, short story, “Harrison Bergeron” satirizes the defective side of an ideal, utopian American society in 2081, where “everyone was finally equal” (Vonnegut 1). When you first begin to read “Harrison Bergeron”, through an objective, nonchalant voice of the narrator, nothing really overly suggests negativity, yet the conclusion and the narrator's subtle description of the events show how comically tragic it really is. Vonnegut’s use of morbid satire elicits a strong response from the readers as it makes you quickly realize that this scenario does not resemble a utopian society at all, but an oppressive, government and technology-controlled society. “A dystopian society is a
Fahrenheit 451’s Relevance to Today Fahrenheit 451’s relevance to today can be very detailed and prophetic when we take a deep look into our American society. Although we are not living in a communist setting with extreme war waging on, we have gained technologies similar to the ones Bradbury spoke of in Fahrenheit 451 and a stubborn civilization that holds an absence of the little things we should enjoy. Bradbury sees the future of America as a dystopia, yet we still hold problematic issues without the title of disaster, as it is well hidden under our democracy today. Fahrenheit 451 is much like our world today, which includes television, the loss of free speech, and the loss of the education and use of books. Patai explains that Bradbury saw that people would soon be controlled by the television and saw it as the creators chance to “replace lived experience” (Patai 2).
Dystopia represents an artificially created society to where a human population is administered to various types of oppressions, or a human population lives under the order of an oppressive government. The novel Fahrenheit 451 and the film V for Vendetta both effectively display this dystopian concept in their works. The nature of the society, the protagonist who questions the society, and the political power that runs the society are examples of how the novel and the film efficiently capture the main points of a dystopian society. The authors of the novel and the film use their visions of a dystopian future to remark on our present by identifying how today’s society is immensely addicted to technology and how our government has changed over the past decades. Furthermore, the authors use our modern day society to illustrate their view of a dystopia in our
In a dystopian society, the government watches and dictates everything. It is the opposite of a perfect world in the sense that careers and social status are pre-destined. The government of this society does everything in its power to make the citizens believe that this is the most ideal place to live. The word “dystopia” ultimately roots back to the Greek word “dys” meaning bad and “topos” meaning place (www.merriam-webster.com). Citizens in a dystopian society rarely question their government. Many citizens are brainwashed and others are just too frightened to speak out against injustices evident in their society. The Hunger Games and The Giver are perfect examples of dystopian texts d...
A dystopian society can be defined as “a society characterized by human misery”. 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury both demonstrate dystopian societies. However, that does not mean they do not their differences. In each society the government has different ways of controlling and limiting its citizens for doing only what they want them to do. In 1984, violators are brainwashed into loving and following Big Brother as if they never knew the truth and return back to their everyday lives. Fahrenheit 451 also punishes violators in a way that makes them regret and scared to ever do it again instead of making them forget.
In the novel, the World State values happiness instead of truth. Soma blinds Brave New Worlders from seeing anything that is negative or distasteful. Drugs and alcohol help people escape reality and many people use because the truth is too painful for them to endure. Drugs transport people into a different world, their own world where they are on top because all of their problems have disappeared for the moment. But, without sorrow there is no real happiness. If someone is happy all the time, they wouldn’t even realize that they are experiencing joy, because that is all they are used to. They have never experienced any other type of emotion. Anger, fear and misery make people appreciate happiness because it is desired. In Brave New World, there is no such thing as desire as Mustapha Mond, the controller, explains, “People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can 't get...And if anything should go wrong, there 's soma” (Huxley 220). The government doesn’t understand that desire creates an appreciation for happiness, and when it is finally attained, it is a very strong emotion. When anything is handed to someone, as joy is in Brave New World, the value is drastically decreased. But, when there is anticipation or work is put in, the value will be justifiable. If Americans continue to rely on products for happiness, there will be no
Dystopian America What exactly is dystopia, and how is it relevant today? E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops uses a dystopian society to show how one lives effortlessly, lacking knowledge of other places, in order to show that the world will never be perfect, even if it may seem so. A society whose citizens are kept ignorant and lazy, unknowing that they are being controlled, unfit to act if they did, all hidden under the guise of a perfect utopian haven, just as the one seen in The Machine Stops, could become a very real possibility. There is a rational concern about this happening in today’s world that is shared by many, and with good reason.