Fahrenheit 451 Society Analysis

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, the conflict the character Guy Montag deals with in the book is him against society. He is a fireman and in his society firemen ignite instead of extinguish fires, they treat books as dangerous possessions. Montag becomes curious and decides to immerse himself in literature, which makes him a danger to society. He risks getting caught by the men he works with, anyone who possesses books disappears from the public or is killed. Guy Montag’s conflict with ignorance in this society teaches the reader that censorship is dangerous through the reckless behaviors and twisted values that people living in this society exhibit.
In the civilization that Montag lives in the people live their lives completely distracted. They are a media driven in society, they abuse it as a source of distraction and escape. With the seashells and the TV parlors no one ever feels the need to go outside anymore. No one knows what's missing from the society, however they all can figure out that there is a deep unhappiness that everyone ignores until it leads to suicide. Their values as a result are twisted that they turn out to be terrible people and will do anything for the sake of entertainment and pleasure. "Go home and think of your first husband divorced and your second husband killed in a jet and

your third husband blowing his brains out, go home and think of the dozen abortions you've had, go home and think of that and your damn Caesarian sections, too, and your children who hate your guts! Go home and think how it all happened and what did you ever do to stop it?” (Bradbury 101). Montag questioned the people around him, their values and actions when they rejected knowledge, telling them that they contribute to the terrible features of this society. Once Montag knew the truth that they were going to reject whatever he said, even though it could have been life-saving. No matter what he did, no one was going to listen, they wanted to continue living in ignorance, and they figured that it would be easier than dealing with reality.
In Montag's world, the populous is completely under-stimulated and desperate that they will do anything to feel something. Even the children of the society are affected and are driven to being an adrenaline seeking beings. The system has the public so pent up and aims to distract them. They feel they have the right anything they feel like because it maintains the equilibrium. Even if that means committing suicide or murder just to stay entertained. “They run us so ragged by the end of the day we can't do anything but go to bed or head to Fun Park to bully people around, break windowpanes in the window smasher place or wreck cars in the car wrecker place with the big steel ball. Or go out in the cars and race on the streets, trying to see how close you can get to the lamp posts, playing chicken and knock hubcaps” (Bradbury 30). Children are so unstimulated in this society, that they gather together and break objects for amusement. The system encourages reckless behavior because they intend to shelter the population and maintain the docility, divert their thoughts from the wars going on and the people that are dying. They feed them the information and convince the people that they live in a utopia.
In conclusion, the system that the society lives in has too much power over the people.

The censorship has dulled their minds and contributes to the reckless behavior they participate in just for pleasure. When one group has total control over access of information there is always going to be conflict. Censorship never has positive outcomes, it can lead to discrimination due to ignorance. Information should never be outlawed and learning should never have to be done in secret. One person changed Montag’s mind, it's not impossible to learn something new. No matter what biases, prejudices, or influences, and pressures it just takes one person to change someone's

outlook.