The definition of what it means to be human has been constantly changed and revised over the years. But, the one thing that has stayed constant is that members of the human race have the power of free thought, understand the meaning of life, have a sense of mortality, and an understanding of time, which in essence makes them human. These individual freedoms cannot last in a society that promotes conformity and mindlessness. In a civilization, when all of the people act exactly the same way, have the same thoughts, and all of the thoughts that they have are about trivial matters, the population is living as dehumanized beings. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a major theme is that conformity leads to dehumanization. Firstly, in …show more content…
Beatty’s argument is that by banning books, relying on mass media for entertainment, and becoming completely oblivious to what is going on around them makes people happy; ignorance is bliss. Because people are so oblivious and caught up in their trivial matters, they often forget important facts that should have been remembered or passed on, for example Clarisse’s death. “I forgot all about it [Clarisse’s death]” (45). Although Mildred wouldn’t think that this is an important fact to pass on to Montag, it is still proof of her forgetfulness. Another example of forgetfulness is when both Mildred and Montag forget where they first met, which is usually an important and cherished piece of information. In Beatty’s lecture, he says “we must all be alike... Each man the image of ever other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against” (55). In his (and many other’s) opinion, if everyone is the same then everyone is happy, because there are no obstacles or anyone feeling inferior or left out. But, with this newfound happiness in conformity, people have completely lost their most basic rights of free thought and individuality, without even knowing …show more content…
As pointed out by the “numb flesh of the face” (132) and when Mrs. Phelps cried, it shows that the people do not feel any emotions. “Mrs. Phelps was crying... ‘I’ve always said, poetry and tears, poetry and suicide and crying and awful feelings, poetry and sickness; all that mush!” (97). After Montag reads Mildred and her friends ‘Dover Beach’, Mrs. Phelps starts to cry because the poetry made her awash with emotions, and it was a totally new and foreign experience to her. Because the poem elicited many different feelings from her, she was overwhelmed and did not know what to do, so she turned to insulting poetry and books. Likewise, although it does not directly state that she is deprived of emotions, Mildred’s description is clearly hinting at it. “... Her hair burnt by chemicals to a brittle straw, her eyes with a kind of cataract unseen but suspect far behind the pupils, the reddened pouting lips, the body as thin as a praying mantis from dieting, her flesh like white bacon” (45). Mildred’s appearance directly correlates to that of every other women in this society, with their stereotypes of beauty (white skin, red lips, thin body). The “cataract” behind her eyes is her inability to see the truth and what society has become, and it is shared with almost every other member of their society. This cataract is also their inability to experience emotions, and their blindness towards
Times have changed and people have become dull. Montag has realized this. His wife, Mildred is now dull which has caused him to no longer love her. Mildred is self-centered. One night while Montag was talking to Mildred, he realized how self-centered she was.
Contrary to Montag, Mildred is someone who depends on technology and doesn’t really care about important things. Mildred lives her life inside the parlor all day, she doesn’t go outside and only socializes with her “family”. Montag however, loves to go on walks and doesn’t spend a lot of time on screens. Mildred focuses too much on technology and nothing in the real world like taxes and money, “‘It’s only two thousand dollars’ ‘That’s one-third of my yearly pay’”(18) It is evident that Mildred doesn’t take things into consideration unless it is to benefit herself.
Just like every other person in this society, Mildred is surrounded by things that can be fixed or replaced – which she claims is a “good thing”, showing how glorified materialism is in this society. Consequently, she does not take care of Montag and disregards him because she is too occupied with caring for another thing. (SIP-B): Moreover, Mrs. Bowels and Mrs. Phelps demonstrates society’s replaceable view of
Ray Bradbury’s novel ‘Fahrenheit 451’ warns of the dangers of technology and blind obedience through the character of Mildred Montag amongst others. Although Mildred is a minor character throughout the text, her image as the poster girl of the dystopian vision of the future Bradbury had created highlights that in a society where technology is all-powerful and all-consuming, true happiness is seldom found. Bradbury depicts characters who have an awareness of life outside of technology to be genuinely happier and more sincere, whereas those who have conformed to mores of society are consequently dissatisfied with life. Ultimately, it is Montag’s realisation that there is more to life than shallow conversations and parlour walls, and the happiness
Society can change a person positively or negatively. In the novel Fahrenheit 51, by Ray Bradbury, Mildred is the wife of the main character Guy Montag. Society has made Mildred feel self-centered, robotic, and unfeeling. First, Mildred is self-centered.
The poem touched her feelings and brought out her emotions. The poem reminded her of her third husband going to war. However, Mildred which is Montag’s wife told her to snap out of it and that poems are unpleasant. This shows how Montag tried showing Mrs. Phelps how how having emotions feel. However, Mrs. Phelps was too brainwashed and controlled by the government and decided to ignore her
Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, presents a society in which humans suffer from depression, fear, and loss of empathy which are the result of censorship of free thought and knowledge. Humans suffer from loss of empathy due to their lack of human interaction. People live in fear of the government as the dystopian society deprives the people of knowledge. Depression is evidenced by suicidal tendencies caused by hollow lives. Bradbury uses the loss of empathy in order to demonstrate the effects that censorship of free thought and knowledge have upon the individual and society.
Montag describes how he feels about his wife when he says, “Late in the night he looked over at Mildred. She was awake. There was a tiny dance of melody in the air, her Seashell was tamped in her ear again and she was listening to far people in far places, her eyes wide and staring at the fathoms of blackness above her in the ceiling.” (Bradbury 39). Her infatuation with the seashells is indicative of where she finds her value in life.
Individuality against conformity is a heavy theme throughout Fahrenheit 451. Clarisse is a central character in Fahrenheit 451 who opposes censorship, questioning Montag in Part One. Clarisse's boldness in asking Montag whether or not he considers the importance of what he is burning offers Bradbury’s view that people who defy anthropocentrism in censorship are more inquisitive, in turn, this could be seen as detrimental to people who try to go against an authoritarian system. The significance of individuality and rebellion throughout Fahrenheit 451 indicates that Bradbury is criticising the shortcomings of anthropocentrism, that in a homocentric society and culture of Fahrenheit, it doesn’t affect non-conforming humans such as Clarisse. Clarisse
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury writes about a future dystopia in the year 2050. The main character, Montang, is a firefighter, but not the one you might think of. In this world, firefighters burn books instead of saving people. One night Montag meets a young-seventeen-year old girl named Clarrise. And through a conversation with her, Montang learns how little he knows about the world he lives in.
Fahrenheit 451 Essay In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the majority of society is identical. This leaves the individuals who break away from the pack, and actually think about what is going on, which makes one of the major themes individuality. The first example of the theme of identity is on page 10, when Clarisse McClellan and Montag were walking home together. When they arrived at the McClellans’ house, Clarisse asked Montag, “Are you happy?” And then ran off to her home before Montag had a chance to answer.
The “perfect” society that is created, comes at the cost of individuality. In Ray Bradbury’s, Fahrenheit 451, the individuality of the citizens is threatened by the amount of government control in their lives, and can be seen through the Utopian goals, the government punishments, and the citizens’ conformity in response to this. The Utopian goals that the society holds limits the individuality of the citizens. Their attempt to create a controlled environment leads to more government control than necessary.
Montag recognises his lack of emotions towards Mildred, demonstrating the dehumanization of society. Granger explains how society used to be, with meaningful lives and human emotions/relationships. Without these human characteristics, life is not valued and not seen as important. Because of this, the people spend their days doing whatever makes them think they are happy for that moment in time. No one thinks about others, or about love, or about true happiness.
Ray Bradbury 's novel Fahrenheit 451 delineates a society where books and quality information are censored while useless media is consumed daily by the citizens. Through the use of the character Mildred as a foil to contrast the distinct coming of age journey of the protagonist Guy Montag, Bradbury highlights the dangers of ignorance in a totalitarian society as well as the importance of critical thinking. From the beginning of the story, the author automatically epitomizes Mildred as a direct embodiment of the rest of the society: she overdoses, consumes a vast amount of mindless television, and is oblivious to the despotic and manipulative government. Bradbury utilizes Mildred as a symbol of ignorance to emphasize how a population will be devoid of the ability to think critically while living in a totalitarian society. Before Montag meets Clarisse, he is