Research Paper On Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 Essay
In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 society has become dependent on technology. This is something that we might be headed for in modern society, statistics show that children today will spend 25% of their lives looking at screens. In the book however, things have gotten a lot worse. Families have rooms where the whole walls are televisions, and part of the fun is being able to respond to what’s on TV by answering with lines from your own copy of the script. Books are also banned in this society, and firemen such as Montag have jobs to burn the houses of people owning and hiding them. The reason behind this is that hiding knowledge and hiding questions will make people happier with their surroundings. One of the book's main

themes is false happiness, Beatty’s speech shows why the current people are so dependent on technology and why it is better for them, this is what Montag wants to change because he sees that the happiness comes from ignorance.

Beatty talks about how you have to teach children to be the same as their parents and other kids starting at an early age. People in this society are blinded by their technology, but since they want to feel like they are in control with their options, they are taught this at school. When talking about Clarisse, the girl that was hit by a car, Beatty says “luckily, queer ones like her don’t happen often. We know how to nip most of them in the bud, early.” (pg. 60) Clarisse was different because she asked questions and was curious about the world around her, she often liked to go slow and think things through. These are traits that are often discouraged in this society. She felt like she didn’t fit in with the other children her age, but she was also happier with her knowledge. She even asks Montag at one point “are you happy?” (pg. 10) At first he thinks the question to be nonsense, and of course he’s happy, he has a wife, a parlor with TV’s and a job. But the more he begins to think about it the more he realizes that he is trapped in his situation. Since he has never asked himself if he was happy, he never assumed

he was anything else. Other people, such as Montag’s wife Mildred, feel as if they are in control of their own thoughts when in reality they are taught things that don’t evoke questions. For instance Beatty says about the people “cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information.” (pg. 61) He says that this should give them a sense of motion, in reality however, they are moving quickly but they are not moving forward. They drive fast cars and know state capitols, but they don’t have any interest in making change or bettering themselves. This is because they think they are already at the best they will ever be. This will supposedly make them happy because they will feel smart and capable, but in reality they won’t be any smarter than anyone else. It is a form of conditioning people to be the same so it will stop future problems from occurring, however it is not working very well.
Beatty’s speech says that in a world where no questions are posed, people are more likely to be happy.

Again talking about students he says “don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.” (pg. 61) These sorts of things lead to trying to measure and equate things that will never be measured. This makes mankind feel as if they are a tiny speck of dust in a huge universe, they are lonely and filled with questions that will never be answered. If you don’t pose those questions to them, act as if they don’t exist, mankind will be more simple, but also happier and more at peace with the world. Another example he gives is about politics, Beatty says “if you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet give him none.” (pg. 61) This shows how the government is really working, even though there are going to be problems within it, if you hide them people will be better off. This is because if you have people that don’t know that their society is tax-mad or inefficient, it is better that they don’t worry at all then have to work hard to make improvements. This gives them the false sense that they have nothing to be improving. Even if they are happy, their happiness is built on hiding conflicts that are still there under the surface. Beatty also says that any man that knows how to take a TV apart and put it back together is happy in this society and

that’s how it should stay.
Beatty giving this speech is trying to convince Montag that people will be happier without knowledge. His stance on this is that the less conflicts people have the happier they can be. But Montag is starting to see the people in his society as robotic and ignorant. Beatty’s speech doesn’t do much to change his mind in the end, and he continues in his quest to wake people up. He can see that he is not happy being stuck, thinking that he is moving fast when in reality he can’t even remember where he met his wife. People like Clarisse who slow down, look at the flowers and taste the rain are the people that can truly find happiness. People like Mildred have a false sense of happiness, she thinks that the characters from TV are just as important as her husband. Although this is not a way to live, the people in the society are blind to any other options, and Beatty wants to keep it that way.