Theme Of Technology In Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451
Imagine living in a world where no conversation occurs, no one has time to think, and everything is fast paced. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, the author, Ray Bradbury, writes about such a world in his futuristic society. The main character of this book, Guy Montag, is a firefighter living in Bradbury’s futuristic world. Throughout the novel, Montag meets people who put a sense of reality into him. The two themes, cultures, and characters are essential elements to this dystopian society.
To begin, the two main cultures: relationships and technology are crucial in this novel. In this society, the advancement of technology almost completely diminishes the purpose of life both with personal relationships and interactions. Everyone is

very mechanical. No one takes the time to have deep conversations anymore, strictly small talk. Engaging in deep conversations will allow for realization and time to think which is highly restricted in this society. All relationships consist of being together but in reality they are separate. Within the community, everyone believes they are the same as those around them.

However, they are not a true community because they all function separately by being antisocial and caring only about themselves. In contrast, a true community allows all members to work together by communicating and interacting with one another. Finally, children are very reckless and kill each other for fun. This seems very odd to think about, but in a society like this, the children are restricted from creativity and responsibility. They are not given time to think on their own because they only know how to function when they are told what to do. Clarisse tells Montag that she is scared of children her own age because they “kill each other” (Bradbury 27). Her grandfather remembered a time when children did not kill each other but that was a long time ago when children had responsibility: a time without technology. Which leads to the other theme of technology. Responsibility is lost when technology begins to play a role in our lives. For example, when the people wake up in the morning, a toaster will both make and butter their toast for them. There is a sense of delight from your bread popping up out of the toaster, taking it out, and placing it on a

plate to be buttered. But, of course, in Bradbury’s world, everything is fast-paced and taking the time to actually butter bread would take too long and may even allow a person time to think. Additionally, mechanical hounds make the accusations of criminals much easier. A single hound can recall up to ten thousand scents. At the time of Beatty’s death, Montag is being searched by the entire city. Hounds were sent everywhere trying to detect his smell. Luckily, Montag lost the hounds when he enters the river. After a while of searching the city, the police see a man walking alone on the street. The police instantly assume it is Montag and send the hounds out to kill the suspect. This illustrates that people do not even take the time to truly accuse the right person of a crime; instead, they go after an easily accessible suspect. No one watching the live TV broadcast knows if the man who is killed is Montag or not, but the police make it seem as if it is Montag to allow the audience relief. Another way technology has an impact on this society is through televised interactions. Mildred is thrilled to receive the new script to the reality TV show that appeared on three screens in her house. The characters on the TV parlor occasionally paused and allow time for the person to respond. There is almost no point in being married if one does not socialize with their significant other. For instance, when Montag tries to recall how he and Mildred met, she begins to say, “Why, it was at—,” but then stops and says, “I don’t know” (Bradbury 40). Ultimately, people no longer have time to interact with others because they have an interactive televised “family” that occupy much of their time. For instance, when Montag actually finds an opportunity to talk to Mildred, he asks her to turn the TV off and she responds by saying, ‘But that’s my family.’ (Bradbury 46). Mildred instantly becomes offended by the idea of having to leave her family, when Montag needs to be Mildred’s main focus. The relationships in this novel show how technology has taken away the purpose of a relationship. Although relationships and technology are essential, culture is another aspect that is very significant in this novel.
Next, there are two pieces of culture that are significant in this novel. One of the

Finally, Montag and Mildred are two characters in this novel that are very important. Montag is one character that has significantly changed from the beginning to the end of this novel. In the beginning, Montag functions much like a robot. Each and every day he goes through the same series of events much like everyone else in this society. His firefighting job makes him very curious about the books he is burning. He begins to betray the law that restricts people from reading books. By reading these books, he learns that everything about them is worth fighting for. By the end of the novel, he is very independent and passionate. He knows he is different from everyone else and because of this becomes very passionate about his differences. He cares to listen to Clarisse, which many people do not have time for. He tries to find a deeper meaning to life through Clarisse and what he knows about books. The other character, Mildred, is a character that demonstrates an ordinary personality. She is completely concentrated on a world filled with technology. Mildred spends everyday talking with the TV parlor at her house and listening to the noise coming from her earpiece. Both pieces of technology distract her from the feelings and reality of life. These constant routines manage to make her and many others forgetful. They do not remember if they took their pills or not and end up repeating the process various times that they overdose on the pills. When Montag reminds Mildred that she took the whole bottle of pills the night before, Mildred is perplexed that she took too many pills. “I wouldn’t do a thing like that” is how she responds to Montag (Bradbury 17). She is so caught up with distractions that she cannot get beyond the fact that she did overdose on her pills. Mildred can also be described as artificial. Not only does she have abnormally white skin and chemically burnt hair, she betrays Montag while grieving from losing her televised family. These descriptions foreshadow how she will becomes dead to Montag from the beginning of the book to the end. Montag loses feelings for Mildred. He says that he is certain he will not cry when she dies, in fact it will be the death of an unknown person on the street that would make him cry. Mildred calls the firehouse to report an alarm on her own house. This is exceptionally odd because she reports her own husband for a horrible crime. The three televisions in her house will be burned in the fire and therefore, creating a horrific loss for Mildred. This creates fear for her because she will no longer have the simulated family to create the meaningless feelings for her anymore.
The overall theme, culture, and the two characters: Montag and Mildred are clearly important pieces to this novel. Such pieces teach and allow readers to understand the significance of Bradbury’s writings. The way this dystopian society functions is very frightening to readers because our world now seems to be heading in the same direction. However, if everyone is like Montag and uses their individuality to be different, a change can be made in the world.