Fahrenheit 451 Technology Essay

(AGG) In the book Fahrenheit 451, the author expresses his fears on how technology can affect one's humanity. (BS-1) Members of the society in this book are unable to have relationships with themselves and others because of the technology surrounding their lives. (BS-2) Media is leaving a negative effect on people’s ability to memorize and remember events in their lives. (BS-3) But once people leave behind all the technology being used every day, they can find their humanity. (TS) The author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, expresses the dangers and his fears for our future because of technology.

(MIP-1) Members of this society have lost the ability to have true, meaningful relationships with people as well as themselves because of the amount

of technology in their everyday lives. (SIP-A) People are unable to have and keep relationships with other members of their society. (STEWE-1) Mildred is a key example of this, she values her technology more than her own husband. "She shoved the valise in the waiting beetle, climbed in, and sat mumbling , 'Poor family, poor family, oh everything gone, everything, everything gone now. . . .'" (108). Mildred thinks of her parlor walls as her family, not Montag or any other human being. Technology is being values higher than one’s true family. They are losing their family values, and ability to love humans because of it. (STEWE-2) Another example of members in this society losing their ability to feel emotions is what they watch for entertainment. The members of this society would rather watch a killing, than talk with their families, "The camera fell upon the victim, even as did the Hound. Both reached him simultaneously. The victim was seized by Hound and camera in a great spidering, clenching grip. He screamed. He screamed. He screamed!" (142). The people in this society would rather watch an innocent man die, than talk with their family. Their whole lives have revolved around technology, meaning they value it higher than someone in their family. Technology has affected people’s emotions because they are unable to feel sympathy or anything while watching the death of an innocent man.

They watch this for entertainment because that was how they were ‘programmed,’ to believe that death was a normal, everyday thing. Technology is only showing how normal it is to watch people die. (SIP-B) Not only are people in this society unable to develop and keep relationships with others, but they can’t understand their own feelings, driving them to madness. (STEWE-1) It is a normal event in this society for people to commit suicide because they are unhappy. “‘Killed jumping off buildings, yes, like Gloria’s husband last week, but from wars? No’” (91). Death through war is uncommon. Suicide, happens on a regular basis in their society. Technology is affecting people’s ability to connect with themselves and understand their feelings. At the beginning of this book, Clarisse asked Montag if he was happy. His response was yes, but when they parted ways, he pondered whether he was really happy or not. Almost no one can understand their feelings, those of true human’s, causing them to jump off the face of the earth. (STEWE-2) Not only did people jump from buildings to end their

lives, but it was an everyday job for workers to go to people’s houses and pump out their stomachs because they had overdosed on their medications. “‘Ten blocks from here. Someone else jumped off the cap of a pill box’” (13). When Montag was talking with the workers, he learned that they had many overdose cases in just one night. People don’t know how to deal with these emotions because technology hid them all. Even if these emotions resurfaced for one moment, it could push them to death. (CS) Technology is causing people in Montag’s society, to lose the ability to connect to others and themselves.
(MIP-2) The key trait of memory has been lost by the amount, and the attention, put into technology.

(SIP-A) People in this society, are unable to remember important things that have taken place throughout their lives. (STEWE-1) Technology is leaving a hole in people's brains, where important things can easily slip through. At the beginning of this book, Mildred, nor Montag could remember when or where they had met. “‘When did we meet and where?' 'When did we meet for what?' She asked. 'I mean- originally.' He knew she must be frowning in the dark. He clarified it. 'The first time we met, where was it, and when?' 'Why it was at-' she stopped. 'I don't remember.' She said" (40). Meeting your spouse should be an easy date to remember, but because technology has affected people’s ability to remember, they can’t. (STEWE-2) This ‘hole’ in people's brains, is causing them to forget things so easily. Montag wants to remember what he reads. "Once as a child he had sat upon a yellow dune by the sea in the middle of the blue and hot summer day, trying to fill a sieve with sand... and the faster he poured, the faster it sifted through with a hot whispering... there were people in the suction train but he held the book in his hands and the silly thought came to him, if you read fast and read all, maybe some sand will stay in the sieve" (74). In this quote the brain is taking the place of the sieve and the sand is knowledge. Montag attempts to read faster so that he can remember some of

the knowledge he's reading. However, the information just pours out of his brain. (SIP-B) The societal leaders are using technology to keep people from remembering what the past society was truly like. (STEWE-1) Leaders of this society have hidden the past from those obsessed with technology. Clarisse, who has spent little time around technology, is the first and only one to bring up what firemen could have been like in the past. "’Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?’" (6). The societal leaders are using the technology to hide the past. In order to see the truth, people need to step away from the technology. (STEWE-2) Technology and speed are being used to keep people from noticing the little things in life. "’I sometimes think drivers don't know what grass is, or flowers, because they never see them slowly,’ she said. ‘If you showed a driver a green blur, Oh yes! he'd say, that's grass! A pink blur? That's a rose-garden! White blurs are houses. Brown blurs are cows. My uncle drove slowly on a highway once. He drove forty miles an hour and they jailed him for two days. Isn't that funny, and sad, too?’” (60). Members who go slow and wish to remember the past get into trouble because the leaders of their society, don’t want them to enjoy nature more than technology. The societal leaders fear nature and rejection. So, they use technology to make people forget and to stay in control. If people forget, they won’t realize how much worse their lives are because of technology. (CS) Technology has caused members of this society to lose their ability to remember important details.
(MIP-3) Once people step away from technology, they learn what it truly means to be human. (SIP-A) Clarisse had always been able to feel emotions because she wasn’t caught up in the world of technology. (STEWE-1) Clarisse knows what love is and she knows how to feel. "'If it rubs off, it means I'm in love. Has it?' He could hardly do anything else but look. 'Well?' She said. 'You're yellow under there'" (19). Clarisse has stepped away from the expectations of her society and has instead connected with nature. Clarisse is often compared to nature and water, because she is pure and helps people grow. Granger and Faber are also key people who have walked away from their society in order to become human again. Montag is changed by these three people, they help him step away from the technology and into nature. (STEWE-2) Clarisse is someone who would rather be with nature than inside watching the death of people on TV. She knows what it means to truly be human and she knows how technology will affect someone. “‘I rarely watch the 'parlour walls' or go to races or Fun Parks’” (7). So, in order to keep her humanity, she rarely is around technology and spends most of her time in nature. (SIP-B) After Montag left his city, he was able to learn how to change things. (STEWE-1) The leaders of Montag’s society didn’t want things to change. But when Montag escaped the city, he learns how to change things, and how to use his hands. “The other men helped, and Montag helped, and there, in the wilderness, the men all moved their hands, putting out the fire together” (147). Once Montag stepped away from technology and into nature, he learned to use his hands to change things for the good. (STEWE-2) In the city they didn't want change. So no one knew what or how to change things. But when Montag meets Granger and his friends, he learns how to change things. Granger explained to Montag the meaning of was, “‘It doesn't matter what you do, he said, as long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take you hands away'" (150). The society used technology to keep people from touching things and changing them. Granger explains to Montag that you have to use your hands to change something, which was forbidden in his city. (CS) If people in this society know the affects that technology has and stopped spending so much time around it, they could truly become human.
(RTS) The author expresses his views and concerns about technology through his book. (BS-3) If people in this society learn the affects of technology, they’ll be able to live as true humans. (BS-2) Until then, people in this society will be affected by technology in ways that cause them to forget the important things about their lives. (BS-1) Members of this society are unable to have relationships with anyone, besides the technology in their lives. (R) Bradbury shows us how dangerous technology can be to our humanity. So why do we still rely on it for our everyday lives?