Examples Of Dystopia In Fahrenheit 451

An Illusion of Utopia

Dystopias are a popular setting for literary works. These are often set in the future of our society. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is one of these and represents a possibility as to what our society is becoming. The daily actions and choices of the populace are a major determinant of a society’s deterioration in becoming a dystopia.

The world of Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian society. Books are banned and burned while people find entertainment in other activities. Mildred, the wife of the fireman, Montag, conforms to society and finds joy in watching the parlor walls . When Montag disagrees about buying a fourth parlor wall, saying that a wall costs one third of his yearly pay, Mildred responds by saying that she wishes Montag would consider her feelings sometimes (20). Although Mildred is Montag’s wife, she cares more about her parlor walls than she cares about Montag, showing that she is very materialistic.

Materialism is a problem i n American society. The American dream has been distorted such that people define “their worth on the basis of what they possess” (Khurram). Because work results in money, a seemingly measurable

When Beatty informs Montag of how burning books came to be, Beatty expresses that the populace itself demanded for books to be banned and that people are content with just knowing trivia (61). The citizens have no interest in pursuing knowledge or thinking beyond what they are told. Furthermore, they ostracize scholarly citizens like Faber, who was previously a professor. Similarly, in our society, Christopher Ingraham reports that the number of adults who read at least one literary work in 2014 has reached a three-decade low . Although reading is not prohibited, Americans choose not to read. Instead , they divert their attention elsewhere—perhaps to the Internet that was not as developed three decades