Fahrenheit 451: What Would Society Look Like Without Technology?

Every day, everywhere people are using technology to check email, calculate tax, and talk with each other. Technology has greatly affected the social structure today and in Fahrenheit 451. Technology has effected how the TV controls our lives, how we communicate with one another, and how strong the social structure is In both the real world and Fahrenheit 451.

In the book Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, the author predicts the future of today’s society. Bradbury predicted the future of today’s technology and societal issues. Some technology from the book that is similar to today is the small electronic earpieces that fit into peoples’ ears to communicate with people; nowadays, it exists and people call it Bluetooth. In addition, there was large flat screen televisions that were the size of a wall. Technology is part of the societal issues from the book, they are similar to today’s society because the people do not care about reading or gaining knowledge anymore, it’s all about television and technology. In addition, suicide is not taken care of or prevented properly It is almost as suicide is taken as a joke. Actually, there are many ways today’s society is similar to the book, society that Bradbury based in the future containing advanced technology and societal issues.

Most often, people can be seen walking with their heads down, immersed in the technology in front of them, ignoring the whole world. Societies often contain a lot of technology, allowing people to use it in helpful or hurtful ways. Some technology can be lifesaving, but there is also technology that can destroy life in less than a second. Most often, people seem to not understand what technology is doing and how it is impacting their lives. Instead, they are blinded by the few positives of technology that actually hurt the society more than they can recognize. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the society is heavily dependent on technology. Technology has a negative impact on the characters in Fahrenheit 451. People in the society become addicted to the parlor walls, cars go so fast that they don’t see anything outside and the mechanical hound instills fear in people.

First, Technology causes one to be distracted from making personal interaction. Like when Montag felt sick, the day after he remembers that he burns a lady with her books and Mildred was just watching her parlors. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 it states, “Will you turn off?” he asked. “That’s my family.” “Will you turn it off for a sick man.”(pg.49) Mildred thinks that her family is the parlor and she is being distracted by leaving behind the reality and going to technology. This means that she is being affected by the Technology and she is being distracted by no seeing the real family, and putting the parlor wall as her family this will affect her relationship with her husband. In addition, from the novel, it states, “At least keep, it down to the minimum!” he yelled. “What?” she cried… when they stepped out of the car she had the seashells stuffed in her ear.”(pg.46) Mildred is distracted by the technology and she is causing it by using the seashells and not interacting with Montag. This means Mildred is using seashells for she could distract herself from interacting but it will affect her relationship. All adds up, Mildred uses technology to be distracted and makes Montag to be isolated because they are always together but mildred always talk to the parlors and not Montag.

Not only does technology lead the society’s people to live a life of isolation, but technology leads the people into feelings of loneliness. The inhabitant’s self-centeredness, along with isolation, causes them to lose their sense of curiosity and knowledge; which induces feelings that they cannot quite seem to understand. In order to push aside their insecurities, they turn to technology to drown out their thoughts, which prevents curiosity to occur. Another cause for feelings of loneliness, is people’s lack of affection towards one another. For example, even though Guy Montag and Mildred are married, they do not share a deep emotional connection with each other or affection like married people usually do. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag asks Mildred when did they first meet, but Mildred does not have any idea according to the dialogue, “When did we meet, and where?” [Asked Montag]... ”I don’t know,” [Mildred] said… “Funny, how funny, not to remember where or when you met your husband or wife” (Bradbury 40). If both of them were to have a meaningful relationship with affection, they were sure to remember where they met in the first place. Also, instead of having normal conversations, Mildred always isolates herself from Guy using her “seashells” and the “parlor walls”. Montag then has no one to

Technology can have many negative impressions on a person and a society. The book, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, shows us many example of this. Bradbury uses figurative language, characterization, and dialog to suggest the effects of technology.

When technology is overused, social interaction can be hindered and an obsession may be formed. Montag’s, wife Mildred, develops a relationship with technology that ultimately affects her both mentally and socially. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury describes various pieces of technology. The first electronic device the reader encounters is the seashell radio, which are tiny radios similar to ear buds. Mildred wears them frequently, so often, that she even wears them to bed. “There had been no night in the last two years that Mildred had not swum that sea.”(pg 10). This quote used to describe Mildred's relationship with the seashell radio conveys how much technology has influenced her.

Do you think that living in a technical world would destroy society? Well, in Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, technology is very advanced and seems to get people's attention. "You're not important. You're not anything" (Bradbury 163). Fahrenheit 451 is explained as a dystopian literature. Such literature portrays an imaginary world where misguided attempts to create a utopia, or a socially and politically perfect place, results in “large scale human misery." (Critique by Michael M. Levy) This quote makes you realize that technology is taking over humans and the world has to do something about it. By creating an “utopia”, Fahrenheit 451 requires the government to take away citizen’s rights and freedoms to create the perfect society.

Ever see firefighter’s burn houses because it was their job? What about books being completely outlawed? In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury creates a futuristic, dystopian society, in where people are engulfed by an influx of technology. In this odd world, people are more concerned about technology than they are about people. In Fahrenheit 451, the book serves as a warning to us about the negative effects of the overuse of technology.

Today, teens are spending one third of their day using technology according to a new study released by Common Sense Media. That is a whole nine hours spent mindlessly surfing the web or watching cat videos. In the science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury writes a social commentary on what the future may look like if technology continues to be overused. In his dystopia, all books are banned and the government controls almost every aspect of people’s lives by brainwashing them with technology. Firemen burn down people’s houses who have books, Guy Montag being one of them. Slowly, Montag starts to question his society and steal books, to the dismay of his technology obsessed wife, Mildred. Bradbury uses Mildred as a symbol of societal corruption to highlight the dangers of excessively using technology.

Bradbury again shows the emptiness of Mildred, a product of the conformist government, when she is using the "seashell thimbles." These are small, high fidelity earphones. They send Mildred music, commercials, and other information for her to consume. Advertisements such as two-hundred foot billboards that line the highways, blocking out any natural scenery, promote conformity and consumerism. Captain Beatty, Montag's boss, describes the logic behind the advertisements and television programs: Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so full of `facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely `brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts or that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery like philosophy or

Most people would rather look on the internet instead of read a book. This is similar in the book because they rely on technology more than books. Many of today’s technologies were predicted by Ray Bradbury. For example, Montag owns a television that takes up three walls. people do have these, and even average people sometimes have very large TV’s. Some other examples are voice activated commands, all types of communication devices, and earbuds or as he called them, “seashells”.

The book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a science fiction book that shows the effects of science and technology in the society. Technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes and solutions of a specific problem (Mooney, 2016). The author writes about some technologies that are similar to the ones that were invented years after the book was written. Some of these technologies include the Bluetooth headsets, ear buds, electronic surveillance, large flat screen televisions, the aeromovel, self-driving cars, fingerprint or eye identification software, and electronic surveillance. Besides, that the book has explained critically how the technologies have affected the society in general.

Both the society of Fahrenheit 451 and our society today revolves around and depends on technology. In the beginning of the novel Mildred is introduced. Montag had just come back from his work as a fireman- burning books. He had also just talked with Clarisse- an open-minded, curious, young lady. At this point, Montag is processing Clarisse’s words as he walks home. He goes to his bedroom where you first see his wife, Mildred. Mildred is one of the main subjects in the book that show how people in Montag’s society are attached to technology. People like Mildred can barely part with their technologies, even in

Albert Einstein once said, “I Fear the Day That Technology Will Surpass Our Human Interaction” and that is exactly what happened in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. One of the biggest theme shown by Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 is the role of technology in the coming future. Fahrenheit 451 is similar to our present in many ways but is also pretty significantly different to our present too. The surround-sound speakers and OLED T.V.’s is similar to what Guy Montag said that the audience feels like there in the place is just one similarity between the society in Fahrenheit 451 and our present society. A difference between the 2 societies, Fahrenheit 451 and our present, is that in Fahrenheit 451, the people’s only resource for information and learning is shows on T.V. whereas in Today’s modern society we gain knowledge from many different sources, namely: Newspapers, online websites, schools, people’s point of views, etc.