Effects Of Technology In Fahrenheit 451 Essay Sample

Every text is created for a specific purpose and to communicate certain ideas. The text structure and language features of Ray Bradbury’s 1951 novel ‘Fahrenheit 451’ communicate ideas and represent people. ‘Fahrenheit 451’ warns what society could become through the portrayal of a future society in which books are banned and freedom of thought is strictly prohibited. Without books and productive activities, people have resulted to violence for entertainment. They are addicted to technology and completely detached from the world around them. And, even though one of the society’s main goals is ‘happiness’, nobody is truly happy.

The totalitarian government in Fahrenheit 451 burns books and censors information, believing that it will bring happiness and ‘equality’. Captain Beatty says, "The important thing for you to remember, Montag, is we're the Happiness Boys... you and I and the others. We stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought.” At the beginning of the book, the use of a metaphor describing Montag as “some amazing conductor” shows that he sees his work burning books as an art form. “It was a pleasure to burn.” When he went to sleep “he would feel the fiery smile still gripped by his face muscles…It never went away.” But it does go away. When Montag meets Clarisse and she asks him if he is happy, this prompts him to analyse his life. “He felt his smile slide away… like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out.” This simile speaks a lot to how Montag’s happiness is a façade, a flame that is now extinguished. The repetition of the word “and” separates each phrase, allowing the reader to focus on each step of the illusion being broken. When Montag actually stops to think, he realises he is not happy. "We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing…. The only thing I positively knew was gone was the books I’d burned.” Using the word ‘we’, shows that Montag is not alone in his unhappiness. The society’s main goal is ‘happiness’ and pleasure but their lives have no real substance. In pursuit of an adulterated idea of happiness, they have lost themselves.

People in the ‘Fahrenheit 451’ society are addicted to technology and it is through Mildred’s character that Bradbury more clearly communicates the dangers of technology and how it impedes a person’s ability to function healthily. Mildred is the embodiment of many things that are wrong with her society. She has an unhealthy obsession with the characters on her TV parlour walls. She calls them “the family” and immerses herself in a virtual world instead of living in the real world, with her real family. Montag complains, “Nobody listens anymore… I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls.” Because of technology, people are detached from reality.  When Mildred is not with “the family” she has her seashell ear-thimbles in, listening to artificial sounds. Bradbury criticises technology when he describes the sound of the ear thimbles as “the electrical murmur of a hidden wasp snug in its special pink warm nest.” This analogy is very unsettling as a wasp is not something one would want in their ear. It is revealed that Mildred is experiencing a lot of mental suffering as she overdoses on sleeping pills. When Montag confronts her about it, she is in disbelief, “I wouldn’t do a thing like that. Never in a billion years.” The use of hyperbole communicates just how out of touch she is with her reality. She is clearly unhappy but the overstimulation from the technology around her distracts her from her issues. Suicide is a common occurrence in her society with the ‘operators’ saying “we get these cases nine or ten a night.” Technology only provides a distraction from people’s emotions and problems, but it does not make them any less unhappy.

The ‘Fahrenheit 451’ society is a sadistic one in which without productive ways to express themselves, the people have resulted to violence. It is not just the adults, even the teenagers are violent. Clarisse talks about how she is scared of people her age, “they kill each other.”  Bradbury writes these four words as one short sentence, drawing attention to how depraved the society is, where even children are murderers. Even the school system encourages violence. “They run us so ragged by the end of the day we can’t do anything but go to bed or head for a Fun Park to bully people around, break windowpanes in the Window Smasher place, or wreck cars in the Car Wrecker place…Or go out in the cars and race on the streets, trying to see how close you can get to lampposts.” The polysyndeton used here emphasises the countless options there are for children to be violent and destructive.  Violence is such a normal thing in their society, that people have become desensitised to it. This is evident in Mildred’s callous indifference to Clarisse possibly being dead. “McClellan. McClellan, Run over by a car. Four days ago. I'm not sure. But I think she's dead. The family moved out anyway. I don't know. But I think she's dead." Bradbury uses many brief sentences in this passage, making Mildred’s way of speaking seem mechanical or robotic; she shows no emotion at the death of an innocent girl.

Fire is a major aspect of the book through the book burnings, and Bradbury uses figurative language to transform it and communicate the possibility of change. The novel follows a narrative structure and this helps convey the message. In the exposition of the book, Bradbury uses a metaphor to paint a clear image of how much pleasure it brings Montag to burn. “With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world… his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning.” Describing the flame thrower as a “great python spitting its venomous kerosene” shows the violence of burning books, the violence of fire. Fire is portrayed as a weapon of destruction; it is used to suppress knowledge. But by the start of the resolution of the book, fire also has positive connotations. When Montag first encounters the professors in the woods, he sees the fire and realises “it was not burning, it was warming.” Fire now also symbolises knowledge, with the professors gathering around the fire, sharing their thoughts, and discussing books. The transformation of fire also links to Montag finding other like-minded people; there is hope for him, for their society.

‘Fahrenheit 451’ warns about what could become of society if people do not think or value knowledge using structural and language features to communicate ideas on happiness, the dangers of technology, violence , and change and transformation and to represent people. In a society where books and freedom of thought are prohibited people have no productive ways of expressing themselves, and they lose sight of what it means to be human. Technology acts as a distraction from their unhappiness and does not give them time to think about how terrible their lives are.  However, Bradbury also shows the possibility of change. Fire is transformed from violent and destructive to warm. This is when Montage meets the professors, showing that all is not lost if there are still people who are willing to think.