Free Society In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, the author Ray Bradbury successfully makes the reader focus on the value and the meaning of a free society. He does this by setting his characters in an oppressive society where the government seeks to control and manipulate the citizens by destroying their individuality and thus the basic essentials of what it is like to be human. (He does this) by early on raising in the mind of the main character, Montag, who´s function is to control society by burning books by having a young girl, Clarisse, confronting him with he question of wether he is really happy. From there on, Montag explores what it is to be happy and how a society, by being oppressive, can take away the opportunity for a free society.

Guy Montag is

a fireman, who in Bradbury´s twisted version of a society, job is to find and destroy books by burning them and the house they are found in. In the beginning of the book, he is content and satisfied with his role in the society and is blind to how people has completely stopped communicating and thinking for themselves. It is only when he meets Clarisse, the young neighbor girl that he first views as eccentric, he learns the meaning and value of his life. The author demonstrates the effect a society without freedom has on people through the character of Montag´s wife Mildred.

Mildred is a epitome of what the society without freedom has produced.

She lives in an alternative fantasy world, almost only communicating with fake people, which she refers to he's her family, throughout the television. She is distracted from the ordinary aspects of living and being human which results in her having an extremely shallow and superficial existence. Bradbury shows that because of not living what a person would refer to as a normal life, she is not happy, and tries to take drug overdose to end her

life.
By reflecting on Mildred´s life, having to attempt to answer Clarisse´s questions, then dealing with the young girls sudden death and reaching out to an old professor, Faber, Montag is forced to reflect on the society he lives in and how it has become stripped of individual freedom.

What the Bradbury is essentially doing in his novel, is forcing the reader to start reflecting over his/hers own situation an the value and meaning of a free society.

He is saying that to be happy, you have to have the sufficient freedom to communicate with others, explore different ideas on your own and express yourself without fear of oppression. He appears to tell his reader, that a person can achieve a certain level of contentment in a suppressed society, and even in times be convinced that they may be happy, but to achieve true happiness and to be fully human, you need to live in a society that values the worth of an individual and free communication and expression.

While suppressive societies destroy a human´s right to (vfddfk) and be happy, a overly free society has its own risks. By not having any restrictions, rules or guidelines,a society will open up to crazy ideas that can lead to violent acts and antisocial behavior. An example is when Anders Behring Breivik killed (?) of young people on Utøya in Norway, because of them being members of a left

party.

In this world, we are surrounded by many different examples of how governments promote or suppress freedom. America and Norway are countries that have as their state of policy freedom of expression as it means to their citizens´ability to achieve their full potential and happiness. At the other extreme, is a country like North Korea, which attempts to control every aspect of their citizens´ lives in order to allow the control if society by a single dictator. There are other examples like Russia or China, where a ruling elite controls the press and access to the internet as to means to mold and shape the thinking of the people so that the ruling establisher can attain power.

For societies that value freedom of expression and the rights of an individual, it is a constant struggle to achieve the perfect balance between free expression and a civil, orderly society. It is important to note, that Fahrenheit 451 was written in 1953, when America was struggling with its own freedom and freedom of expression and what was necessary to preserve itself as a democratic society. Bradbury seems to be saying, that achieving this proper balance is a constant struggle, more like a marathon than a hundred meter dash. To be free society, people should not take it for granted, but be like Clarisse, Faber and Montag, capable of examining both themselves and their surroundings and willing to take the risk necessary to achieve the society that allow someone to be truly human.