Fahrenheit 451's Relevance to Society Essay

Our Society

When reading Fahrenheit 451, has it ever occurred that our world relates to the novel? In the novel by Ray Bradbury, Montags world bears resemblance to our present day world. So many ideas from the story come straight from our own societys actions. From these ideas the story of Fahrenheit 451 becomes very believable. As we make advancements and progress, we(humans) are expected to become more intelligent. This is supposedly true, but only to some extent. Human minds become simpler in the means of thought, as seen through the character of Mildred. She is constantly watching TV and thus her brain is forced to process less thoughts because the TV is doing all the thinking for her. Mildred even begins to consider the television characters her family. Along with so many other forms of modern technology, TV has us in its clasp. Another example of our human minds becoming simpler is shown in the scene in the novel when Montag is on the subway. As a Denhams Dentifrice ad plays, every one hums to the jingle. In our society this happens to us as well. A catchy song or phrase plays and most people will start singing or humming along to it.

Another development from the story that has entered our society is war. Supposedly, we worry about the brave men and women fighting against the war on terror, and while some do, others go on about their daily lives. This fits in to the story in that they too go on with no worries. Montag, speaks to his wifes friends and finds that they dont care about the ongoing war even if their husbands fight in it. One of the women he talks to says, Im not worried, and Its always someone elses husband that dies. The sound of jets overhead gives them the only information about the war and if it involves them. Throughout the book the jets flew overhead symbolizing how corrupt the society is and the extremes people are going through to fix it. Along with the radio broadcasts and jets everyone knows there is a war going on but nobody knows why nor cares to ask.

To this day, many of the problems and developments in Fahrenheit 451 are happening to our world. Technology is becoming our main lifestyle and people are caring less and less about the world around them. Ray Bradburys novel, Fahrenheit 451, greatly foreshadows what our world might soon turn into which makes this novel very believable and scary. To avoid this, we must continue our research and study of new ideas and beliefs and share them with the world. People need to care more about their society and the fundamentals of living properly. Therefore we must spot the dangers in our current status and avoid this corrupt world at all costs.