Fahrenheit 451 Essay

As generations pass, society evolves and grows into a different atmosphere. In some cases the society progressively grows, while in other instances the community and environment deteriorates. In Fahrenheit 451, a book written by Ray Bradbury, the world gradually morphs into a dystopian society; the society could not remember the generations before them and ideals changed completely. Toxic influences affected their everyday life, but only a few people saw these influences. Much like the book, America’s conditions could potentially lead to a different kind of society. The outlook of America depends on how the citizens react and change. Undoubtedly, America will head towards a Fahrenheit 451 society, if conditions do not change, because of the

lack of free thought, which comes from fast paced living, dependence on technology, and throwaway culture.
In fact, fast paced living causes a lack of free thought resulting in a destructive environment.

Fahrenheit 451 provides an example of fast paced, dystopian lifestyles: “But time to think? If you’re not driving a hundred miles an hour, at a clip where you can’t think of anything else but the danger, then you’re playing some game or sitting in some room where you can’t argue with the four-wall televisor.... It must be right. It seems so right. It rushes you on so quickly to its own conclusions your mind hasn’t time to protest’’ (Bradbury 86). Throughout the book, Bradbury shows how living fast enables societies to become disastrous. The people in that society want to rush to the next activity; they want to drive fast, get their entertainment fast, and have no repercussions. These actions end up making it so that individuals cannot make their own conclusions and thoughts; free thinking is gone. It makes people blindly follow along with the rules, even if those rules lead them to their demise. Consequently, in today’s world “society is now dominated by beliefs, attitudes and ways of thinking that elevate the values of impulse, instant gratification and loss of control to first line actions and reactions....people get high on the

emotions of endless possibility with no need to ever stop or slow down” (Brown). Currently, people use their impulses to control how they live their daily lives. The central beliefs of society fuel the need to speed through lives with no worries about the consequences. When people focus on impulse and gratification it can lead to a dangerous world. Additionally, “‘Our lives move at such a fast pace - being stuck in a traffic jam is a chance to make a quick phone call, travelling home on the train is a chance to compile the shopping list and the lunch break is a chance to pop to the bank or return an item to the shops. The key to stress and time management is the ability to stop ‘doing’ all the time and start ‘being’ some of the time’” (Marsh). In today’s society, life constantly progresses; there is no time to stop and relax, at least for some people. Their life fills with meaningless tasks to the point when they do not know what they are actually doing; they go through the motions without thinking for themselves. To prevent the loss of individuality everyone needs to start ‘being’ and participate more in life instead of flying through the motions. Essentially, as living becomes more fast paced, free thought is disarrayed causing the perfect environment for a dystopian-style society.
Similarly, dependence on technology leads to the lack of individuality, which could lead to a Fahrenheit 451 society. Montag, the main character in Fahrenheit 451, explained his wife’s dependence on technology: “The most significant memory he had of Mildred, really, was of a little girl in a forest without trees....or rather a little girl lost on a plateau where there used to be trees....sitting in the center of the ‘living room.’....No matter when he came in, the walls were always talking to Mildred” (Bradbury 48). Mildred continually relies on electronics, especially her wall televisions, to fulfill her day. She listens to exactly what technology tells her to do and does not try to stray from the uniformity. Her own husband can barely remember an instance when she functioned without technology. Admittedly, in current times many people “give in to the appeal of new technology over environmental or ethical concerns” (White). Consumers of the internet and technology depend on it daily to do normal tasks. Most of these consumers would rather keep their technology instead of finding an ethical, environmentally safe alternative. Incidentally, it seems that “‘the Internet has become an integral part of most Americans' lives, and for many, it's the way they do much of their personal business as well as their professional business,’ said Nie. ‘...there are questions we ought to start asking, and I think that [SIQSS] is the only place that's asking them’” (Dixon). As the internet evolved, it became an integral part of everyday life. People use the internet for everything that they need to do; they count on technology to guide them through difficulties, but that causes them to neglect their own logic. As a result, the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society, SIQSS, currently has plans to prevent a damaging society from occurring. Hopefully by asking questions and learning how to stop complete dependence on technology and the internet, a dystopian civilization can cease to exist.
Additionally, modern society creates a culture where things and people are discarded when they are not needed, which makes it hard for individuals to reach opinions and thoughts on certain topics; Dystopian situations can occur when people do not have their own opinions. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury displays the fact that ‘this is the age of the disposable tissue. Blow your nose on a person, wad them, flush them away, reach for another, blow, wad, flush. Everyone using everyone else’s coattails’” (Pg. 21). Throughout the book, people used others to get ahead and make a difference, which exhibits a throwaway culture. In a society that encourages the repeated motion of using and discarding it is difficult to have an original thought. Furthermore, in today’s society, “mass consumption and shopping have become a way of life....consumers sometimes don’t even wait for something to break or wear down before replacing them” (White). Our current society has the same problems with throwaway culture; people replace things before they need to because they want the biggest and best option. Replacements are made to follow trends, so people who follow throwaway culture usually do not think on their own; popularity makes their decisions. Popularity and competition add to the encouragement to leave people and things behind: “You always move forward and there are no limits to how far you can go or how fast you can get there. Don’t pause, don’t reflect. You win or lose. You’ll fall behind and fail if you stop moving” (Brown). Competition that comes from wanting to win or lose makes it easy to want to discard people once they are used. The only way to not fail is to use people; other people can do the work, so there does not have to be any thought in decision making. Having a throwaway lifestyle makes it easy to abandon individual opinions, which will allow for a Fahrenheit 451 society in a few generations.
Ultimately, America will gradually lose the ability for individuals to think freely because of their fast-paced living, dependence on technology, and throwaway culture; if conditions do not change, then it will lead to a Fahrenheit 451 society.

The current circumstances in America pressure people into living in the fast lane. Additionally, it enables them to revolve their lives around technology and the betterment of technology. As a result of these conditions, Americans learned to throw away anything, and anyone, that does not provide meaning in their life; objects and relationships are replaced without a second thought. In a few generations, America could become a dystopian society that mirrors Fahrenheit 451. To prevent a harmful environment, everyone needs to become aware of the issues. We can stop it from happening if everyone works together to change the way society

functions.