Fahrenheit 451 Materialism Analysis

1482 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Fahrenheit 451 essay analysis

(AGG) There's a moral that says, “It is important to take the time to enjoy life.”
(BS-1) Rather than feeling or thinking about important subjects, Montag’s society focuses on materialistic matters. (BS-2) All the materialism in Montag's society is causing people to lose their emotional and complex thinking abilities. (BS-3) When people get away from all the physical items in society, they regain their complex thinking abilities. (TS) Materialism in Montag’s society is causing people to lose several traits, and regain those characteristics after getting away from all the physical objects in society.

(MIP-1) Instead of feeling or thinking about things that are actually important, Montag’s society is too wrapped up in physical objects. (SIP-A) People’s happiness in Montag's society comes from the enjoyment of having a lot of material possessions. (STEWE-1) Mildred is never happy with what she has and always wants more, like a fourth wall, even though the third wall had just been installed a couple months before. She tries to persuade Montag, "It'll be even more fun when we can afford to have the fourth wall installed" (Bradbury 18). Mildred only wants more items, and it gives her pleasure to have all these things, but she confuses them with true happiness. (STEWE-2) Rather than discussing experiences that make …show more content…

(BS-3) More complex thinking abilities that people might've lost are regained when people get away from all the material objects in the society. (BS-2) Materialism in Montag’s society is the cause for people’s loss of emotion and complex thinking abilities. (BS-1) Montag’s society is too focused on material items, rather than thinking or feeling about more important matters. (R) So take a look at the world around, see all the things there are to see, don't stare at the TV all day, or you might end up like

Show More
Related

  • The Dynamic Character of Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first event that results in Montag becoming a dynamic character is his conversations with Clarisse McClellan. She is seventeen, and people consider her insane and anti-social. She is considered anti-social, because she is talkative and expressive. In Bradbury’s made up world, the meaning of social is staring at the parlor walls (large TV screens), and having no thought at all. Clarisse is very different from the rest: “I rarely watch the ‘parlor walls’ or go to races or Fun Parks. So I’ve lots of time for crazy thoughts, I guess. Have you seen the two-hundred-foot-long billboards in the country beyond town? Did you know that once the billboards were only twenty feet long? But cars started rushing by so quickly they even had to stretch the advertising out so it would last” (pg.7).Clarisse’s enthusiastic and cheerful disposition lightens Montag’s attitude, making him a more optimistic person. He is not so closed-minded anymore, and he learns to be himself, and sometimes care free. Montag learns to see the brighter side of things and believe in him...

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the end of the book we learn that the city Montag once lived in has been destroyed. It’s here where we get the end result of Montag, the man who once took special pleasure in destroying books now takes pleasure in preserving them. If not for Clarisse who opened his eyes to the truth through questioning life, or Faber who revealed the truth and magic in the books, and Granger who taught Montag how to preserve the books Montag could have very well been a victim of his cities destruction. It’s clear that Montag was heavily influenced by these three Individuals changing him from a once law abiding citizen of the futuristic government to a refugee of the law discovering reasons worth fighting for regardless of outcome.

    Read More

  • The Degradation of Human Relationships in Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    “We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing.” This quote from Montag sums up the effects of a deteriorated social society. He recognizes that people have gotten to a point where they are a slave to their techonolgy, but he has no idea where to start, and in the end, the fixing begins at the end.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 essay

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Identity in Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first of all, Montag loses his control over his own mind. At the beginning of the story, he meets a beautiful girl called Clarisse. She is a peculiar girl who wonders about the society and how people live in there. She tells Montag the beauty of the nature, and also questions him about his job and life. Though he has been proud of being a fireman, Clarisse says, “I think it’s so strange you’re a fireman, it just doesn’t seem right for you, somehow” (21). Montag feels “his body divide itself into a hotness and a coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon the other” (21) by her words. Everything Clarisse says is something new to him and he gradually gets influenced a lot by this mysterious girl. Actually, the impact of the girl is too significant that his mind is taken over by her when he talks with Beatty, the captain of the firemen. “Suddenly it seemed a much younger voice was speaking for him. He opened his mouth and it was Clarisse McClellan saying, ‘Didn’t firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?’” (31). His mind is not controlled by himself in this part. He takes of Clarisse’s mind and it causes confusion within his mind. It can be said that this happening is an introduction of him losing his entire identity.

    Read More

  • Use Of Leisure Time In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Montag’s society, everyone is the same, and no one questions anything that is happening around them. Clarisse, a girl who questions the way their society works, tells Montag, ‘“They

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Critical Analysis

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    The lost of connections with people, and when people don’t think for themselves can lead to a corrupt and violent society. Thats why in the novel Fahrenheit 451, Montag learns that when thinking for your own self you can achieve your goals. Having connections with other people like Clarisse and Montag is a good thing and not bad. They both learn that thinking different and have a real connection with other people can help society and not turn it into a corrupt and violent society.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Individuality In Fahrenheit 451

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    His choice of becoming into an individual himself changes him into a completely different person. As the book gets closer to ending, Montag ends up meeting up with professor Faber. Professor Faber is one of the outcasts because of everything he knows. Montag asked him for help because he started to become interested in reading books. Montag explains to Faber “Nobody listens any more. I can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls”, Montag started to feel different from the others because society started to move him away from his old actions (Bradbury 78). Also in the beginning, Clarisse asks Montag about the smell of kerosine. This part started to foreshadow Montag as an individual and thinking for himself. Montag would be characterized as the protagonist of this novel. Clarisse’s way of thinking was the reason that mostly influenced Montag to change into an individualist. Her personality made him want to be like Clarisse.

    Read More

  • Dehumanization In Fahrenheit 451

    1260 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Essay

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: A Dystopian World

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    He uses someone on the inside of this dystopian society to show how those people think and what life is like in their world. It shows Montag 's ignorance at first, and it shows he subconsciously felt a yearning for knowledge, felt a curiosity in him, by taking books. It shows how his interactions with Clarisse start to change him, and he begins to realize his ignorance, his unhappiness. By how Millie tried to kill herself by overdosing on pills. By how Montag starts feeling real things again once he starts thinking. All these things show the unhappiness of these people, because of their ignorance, their false

    Read More

  • Duality in Fahrenheit 451

    456 Words  | 1 Pages

    Within the many layers of Montag lay several opposite sides. For example, Montag is a fireman who burns books for a living but at home, spends time reading novels, poetry, and other written material. Although Montag could be called a hypocrite, he does not enjoy both the reading and the burning at the same time; he goes through a change that causes him to love books. Humans have the power to change and grow from one extreme to another, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. In addition, when Mildred is with Montag, Montag does not have feelings for her but thinks of her as she is killed by the bombs. He possesses both the knowledge that Mildred does not love him and the heart that truly cares, but he knows not how to deal with this. His feelings are oppressed; it takes a major event (the bomb) to jolt them from hibernation.

    Read More

  • Censorship, Conformity and Alienation in Fahrenheit 451

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hence, it can be seen through censorship and alienation, that Montag represents the individuals in this totalitarian setting as his shift in attitudes, values and beliefs by ‘crossing the river’ results in an irreconcilable break from societal expectations and proceeds to possess knowledge.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Ignorance Vs Knowledge Essay

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some characters like Montag did not succumb to the ignorance of society. Unlike Mildred characters like Montag believed in the power books and knowledge. Montag was once like Mildred until he met Clarisse; his neighbor. Clarisse was different from anyone Montag had ever met. She made him question his career, his happiness and even his marriage. After talking to Clarisse, Montag realizes he’s been ignorant for his whole life and begins a dangerous search for knowledge. After eventually stealing a book and reading it Montag realized that knowledge is really important. Books symbol knowledge because they provide their readers with information they did not know prior to opening the book. Montag no longer believed that ignorance was bliss “”. Through Montag’s fight for knowledge Bradbury is able to help the readers to understand that people are afraid of knowledge because they fear making mistakes. “You’re afraid of making mistakes. Don’t be. Mistakes can be profited by” says Faber (Bradbury 104). Knowledge is gained from experience. The best and worst sides of Montag were revealed during his journey because he made mistakes and learned from them. At the end of the novel Montag like readers comes to the realization that knowledge and experiences is the true meaning of life.

    Read More

  • How Clarice Influenced Montag in Fahrenheit 451

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    Montag never appreciated the simple things in life. He would never walk or drive slow enough to see the colors of things. This bothered Clarisse McClellan very much. She loved to catch raindrops on her tongue, and she always left little presents for Montag to make sure he appreciated these simple things. Through her spirit and her small simple presents, Montag finds the strength to also appreciate these things.“And then very slowly as he walked, he tilted his head back in the rain for just a few moments and opened his mouth..”(Bradbury 24). Montag begins to see that no matter how hard life gets, he will always have these smaller things that he can enjoy.

    Read More

More about Fahrenheit 451 Materialism Analysis

Open Document