Theme Of Manipulation In Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451, a novel written by Ray Bradbury, is comprised around the idea psychological manipulation. There are many different ways that people are influenced and manipulated in Fahrenheit 451. Social Learning theory a psychological theory that people learn by observing others.

Social learning theory explains how people learn new behaviors, values, and attitudes. For example, someone might pick up an accent if they stayed in a foreign country for an extended period of time. The society within the novel are constantly portrayed as influenced by others around them. People in the novel don 't even think to question the government and more importantly, the firemen or their work. Burning books is the theme throughout the novel. Only

Due to the lack emphasis of the other of the other two components of motivation arousal level seems to be greatly exaggerated in the novel. Both high arousal needs and low arousal needs are demonstrated within the book. People with high arousal needs in Fahrenheit 451 are the thrill-seekers. These people enjoy racing around at night disregarding the people in the street they are occasionally hitting without remorse. Clarisse tells Montag she 's "...afraid of children my own age. They kill each other... Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks. I 'm afraid of them and they don 't like me because I 'm afraid", (pg. 30). There is even a “Window Smasher” and a “Car Wrecker” place where people go to smash windows or wreck cars to fulfill these needs. These places exist to divert the large-scale ruining of cars and window smashing happening to citizens of the city. These people had a need for excitement so they would do anything to achieve that adrenalin. People with low arousal needs pursue more relaxing activities. A prime example of someone with low arousal needs is Montag’s wife, Mildred. She tends to stay home with her “family” and watch TV all day with the occasional company of her

I think he 's one of the nicest-looking men who ever became president.”

"Oh, but the man they ran against him!"

"He wasn 't much, was he? Kind of small and homely and he didn 't shave too close or comb his hair very well.", (pg. 125).

This shows that they ladies weren’t interested in the political standpoints the candidates were expressing rather their physical attractiveness.

A method called Earworm is widely used in the advertising industry within the book. Earworm is the psychological term for music that is constantly repeated so it retained in long term memory and in other words, “stuck in your head”. In Fahrenheit 451 ads are used to constantly bombard the society with information. It is also used as a distraction from reality so people couldn’t retain anything of value. For example, as Montag attempts to memorise The Book of Ecclesiastes while riding a train. He finds he cannot manage retaining much of anything because the train 's sound system plays an advertisement for “Denham 's Dentifrice” over and over: "Denham 's does it" with a bouncy jingle that interferes with his ability to think. Montag begins to realize that wherever her he goes in his society, the government has a psychological system in place to limit what he thinks by feeding him sights and