Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Nathan Rector

Honors English II

Fahrenheit 451

Society Comparison

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is filled with new and improved technology. Bradbury, a fiction writer, bases the novel in 1990. Seashells, earplugs, TV's the size of a room, sporting events are more important than school and the burning of books and people is the society that is shown in 451. Bradbury's idea of a future society is very much the same as ours is now, with few minor differences.

We are always demanding more advanced machinery, and from the past, we have grown into a much more technological society. Lately, more and more people not only want more technology, they want them to be quicker. Things such as quicker computers, quicker connections to the internet, better cell phone connections, pagers, cars with more power, voice mail, palm pilots, etc. are in greater demand. People don't want to waste time anymore. We want things done quicker without as much effort.

Another difference is how much fun is emphasized in this society. Speeding is no longer an issue for the citizens of this city, "I sometimes think drivers don't know what grass is or flowers, because they never see them slowly."(9) In America driving is a privilege that can be taken away at anytime. Speeding can ultimately take that right away.

Another reason their society reflects the one we live in is that the people there are becoming more and more violent towards each other. Clarisse tells Montag that 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" (30). They even have a Window Smasher place and a Car Wrecker place where children can go and smash windows or accident cars instead of ruining cars or windows of people in the city. In our society, one can't turn on the television without hearing about a teenager shooting another teenager or teenagers going on a rampage and shooting in local school. Kids in our society are just as dangerous as the kids in Clarisse's society.

The society we live in now is a reflection of the society in which Bradbury wrote about in Fahrenheit 451. They are technologically advanced, more than we are, but at the rate that companies are producing more advanced machinery, we will soon be at the same place as they are. The children living in their society have become very violent towards one another. They kill others and wreck things just for the fun of it. The children of our society are becoming more and more like they are. Bradbury did a nice job predicted what the society would be like in the future. and that is that ok get over it