Dehumanization In Fahrenheit 451

When a community attempts to promote social order by ridding society of controversial ideas and making every citizen equal to every other, the community becomes dystopian. Although dystopian societies intend to improve life, the manipulation of thoughts and actions, even when it is done out of the interest of citizens, often leads to the dehumanization of people. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Montag, the main character, lives in a dystopian society that has been so overly simplified and homogenized, in order to promote social order, that the citizens exist as thoughtless beings. The lack of individual thinking, deficit of depth and knowledge, and the loss of true living is what has transformed Montag’s city into a dystopia and made the

citizens artificial and insincere.
Instead of thinking individually and having personal opinions that can be shared with others, the citizens of Montag’s city all share identical thoughts. Beatty, the fire chief, has a conversation with Montag about how their society came to be homogenous and says, “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against” (Bradbury 55-56). Instead of accepting the truth that people are different in the world, the citizens try to manipulate this reality, which leads to feigned equality and false happiness. This standardization of society does not come from the government or people of high power; it comes from the people who feel upset when they see others who are more talented than they are. In order to keep everyone equal and content, the citizens begin to reject others with better abilities and accept only those who are similar to them. However, this false equality prevents people from using their abilities to improve society or their own lives. Beatty also mentions that entertainment has become “a nice blend of vanilla tapioca” because “the minor minor minorities with their navels to be kept clean” could not handle the content of some entertainment (Bradbury 55). Because Montag’s society wants to remain peaceful and equal, the citizens decide that all entertainment must be blended, so that people do not become divided over ideas. However, the blending of entertainment into pudding, that does not do any harm to anyone, can cause the grandiose and sometimes controversial ideas of writers or film-makers to be lost in the sea of other unimportant works of entertainment. Without different ideas or beliefs that help form unique opinions and cause conflicts, the citizens become thoughtless beings who do not question or debate anything in their society. In Montag’s dystopian society, the need for social order and serenity has resulted in the homogenization of citizens and the transformation of humans into an identical group which rejects individual ideas and knowledge.
Within Montag’s society, everyone is one dimensional, lacks intellectual depth, and is unable to think critically about anything.

When Beatty explains to Montag why books are being burned, he describes the method used when teaching students: “Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information...And they’ll be happy” (Bradbury 58). Later, on the train, an advertisement blares, “Denham’s Dentifrice” while Montag struggles to read “the shape of the individual letters” (Bradbury 75). Montag’s society is convinced that education means mindlessly memorizing facts. However, a large amount of information and facts is not a proper substitute for deep, critical thought. When information is just given and not analyzed, it prevents questioning why facts are true and inhibits the development of basic thinking skills, such as when Montag struggles to understand the book he is reading. Additionally, with so much information and entertainment circulated in Montag’s society, significant ideas that promote questioning and changing life cannot be developed. Without thoughts that allow people to question their ways and change themselves, people believe they are perfect, cannot realize their faults, and are unable to change the way they are. When Montag consults Faber for some insight on books, Faber states that books have been abandoned because “they show the pores in the face of life” and, because of this, their society is “living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam” (Bradbury 79). Instead of taking the time to think and develop thoughts, the citizens of Montag’s city take the easy way in life, by avoiding any deep thought and personal opinion altogether. It is much easier for the citizens to enjoy mindless entertainment than to think about the issues in the world and their solutions. However, this can create problems within

society. If a plant tries to grow solely on flowers rather than soil, which provides nutrients but is also sometimes messy and unappealing, the plant cannot flourish. Similarly, when the citizens of Montag’s city attempt to live only on non-controversial and harmless ideas rather than truthful and occasionally contentious ideas, their society cannot progress and the citizens become similar to corpses. Because knowledge, opinions, and ideas are very superficial in Montag’s society, the citizens become shallow and their society becomes lifeless and fabricated.
Rather than strive to change the world, the citizens of Montag’s city accept everything and do little to impact anything or anyone, which makes them appear as if they are not actually living. As Montag enters his room, he describes it as “coming into the cold marbled room of a mausoleum” without “a hint of the silver world outside” (Bradbury 9). In the city, everyone, even married couples like Montag and Mildred, seldom turn on the lights and have quality conversations with each other. Without being able to fulfill the natural human desire to share ideas, the citizens become less human and exist more as thoughtless and inanimate beings. When Granger and Montag meet, Granger describes his grandfather as a man that left a legacy on earth, which Granger believes defines a life well lived: “It doesn’t matter what you do...so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away” (Bradbury 150). The citizens in Montag’s city are so frequently occupied with frivolous entertainment, that they never have the time to think deeply about improving the world. Entertainment and television have become such an integral part of Montag’s society that it has become abnormal for the citizens to talk with each other and create connections. Without being able to have quality conversations or impact life, the citizens are lifeless objects that cannot change the world. Instead of living together and sharing ideas and beliefs, the citizens of Montag’s society exist less as humans and more as impersonal beings who rarely impact anything or anyone.
In Montag’s dystopian society, the lack of individual thought, depth and true living yields little controversy and conflict, but also results in mindless citizens who exist, rather than think deeply and truly live. Just like in Montag’s society, in the present-day world, the massive advancements in technology have allowed people to be entertained constantly, making quality conversations and questioning of society obsolete. To live is to think, to discover, and to impact. Without thoughts, questions and conversations, people cannot truly live. As entertainment that requires little to no thinking becomes more prevalent in society, humans are reduced to thoughtless beings who are unable to question society and find solutions to problems that can impact the world forever.