Fahrenheit 451 Free Essays

What if there was a society where knowledge was feared and looked down upon? A society where someone who is intellectual is absolutely abandoned? In Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, a character that depicts the norm of this wrecked humanity would have to be Mildred Montag. Mildred is the brittle, sickly looking wife of the main character, Guy Montag. Mildred, being the status-quo for the broken society in which the novel takes place, has a role necessary to make the novel tie together smoothly. We will write a custom essay sample on Fahrenheit 451 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Bradbury must show that society is distant, obsessive and reckless through Mildred. Mildred is completely distant and obsessed throughout the story. She is absolutely engulfed with her radio or television through the entirety of the novel. â€Å"Without turning on the light he imagined what the room would look like†¦And in her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind. The room was indeed empty. Every night the waves came in and bore her off on their great tides of sound, floating her, wide-eyed, toward morning.†(p.12). Before even turning on the light, Montag knows what the room will look like. This shows that Mildred in persistent in her obsession with the radio and that she is lost in the sound waves every night when Montag comes home from work. In conclusion, Mildred’s obsession is the cause of her distance. Another trait that Bradbury must show the reader is selfishness. Mildred displays her selfishness throughout the novel. Her selfishness is shown because Bradbury is making the statement that since Mildred is being portrayed as the status-quo; all of the â€Å"normal† citizens must be just as conceited as she is. â€Å"She’s nothing to me; she shouldn’t have had books. It was her responsibility, she should have thought of that. I hate her. She’s got you going and the next thing you know we’ll be out, no house, no job, no nothing† (p.51) Even though Mildred does not know the person she is insulting, she is so ignorant that she simply doesn’t care about the women or the values the women was trying to protect. Mildred does not see the value of knowledge because one who lacks knowledge cannot value it. Mildred’s lack of knowledge is not her only quandary; she also has a serious lack of self restraint. Even from the beginning of the novel, when she attempted suicide and then later having no recollection of it ever happening. That was not the only spot in the book where Mildred demonstrated how reckless she was. â€Å"The keys to the Beetle are on the night table. I always like to drive fast when I feel that way. You get it up around ninety-five and you feel wonderful. Sometimes I drive all night and come back and you don’t know it. It’s fun out in the country. You hit rabbits, sometimes you hit dogs. Go take the Beetle.† (p.38) Mildred is so reckless that she has no value for life. She plainly explains how she drives thoughtlessly and will only have intentions of driving to kill harmless animals. As shown previously, Mildred is a character who is obsessive, reckless, and selfish. Mildred is the character who depicts the everyday inhabitant of the ominous and dark society. She shows the readers that not only are the civilians are orthodox, but some of them are simply mad. I feel that Mildred was one of the most important characters in the book because she let the reader get a firsthand look at one of the country’s average pedestrians. At the end of the novel, Mildred dies with no dent made in the universe. Not even her husband felt bad when the first nuclear bomb stuck the city in which she was residing. This shows that if one is completely lost in something, and has no face to face social life, then they will soon be forgotten after death. If something can be taught from Mildred it is that one should never lose communal relations. How to cite Fahrenheit 451, Essay examples Fahrenheit 451 Free Essays Fahrenheit 451 Free Essays Most people today think nothing of knowledge and take it for granted because they think it is easy to gain. In fact, many young adults tend to resist gaining knowledge and would rather entertain themselves with games, television or partying. However, authors Ray Bradbury and Stephen Vincent Benet would pity their indifference. We will write a custom essay sample on Fahrenheit 451 or any similar topic only for you Order Now In science fiction story, Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury tells the story of Guy Montag whose search for meaning and knowledge leads him to make difficult decisions throughout his journey. In â€Å"By the Waters of Babylon† a science fiction story, a boy, John, discovers the truth while on a journey to become a man. Both stories teach an important lesson about gaining knowledge, that it cannot be gained passively-it requires sacrifice. Primarily, both stories show that the cost to gain knowledge is to lose part of one’s old self. In Fahrenheit 451, we see the main character, Montag, doing actions that require him to abandon his old routines. He had to give up his job, his wife, and his house to gain the books and knowledge he so desires. Bradbury quotes Montag in his description stating, â€Å"You want to give up everything? After all these years of working, one night, some women and her books-,† (page 51). This quote shows that Montag wants to quit his job just for the sake of gaining books and finding knowledge so he can be happier. This is necessary to gain knowledge because it shows how he had to abandon of all the stuff he did over so many years because he can’t gain knowledge with the other luxurious life right in front of him. He needed to let it go so he won’t go back to it. Montag did not quit his job at that point (but did later) because of opposition from his wife, Mildred, but learned that he had to let go of Mildred because she did not want to gain knowledge. Similarly, â€Å"By the Waters of Babylon† is like Fahrenheit 451 when approaching this idea of losing part of one’s old self. John, the main character is on a journey to become a man. He wants to gain knowledge and truth. He must go to a forbidden land where the Gods used to live, but soon finds out that they were men before his time. Benet mentions John in the following quote, â€Å"It is not for the metal alone we go to the Dead Places now—there are the books and the writings. They are hard to learn. And the magic tools are broken-but we can look at them and wonder. At least, we can make a beginning,† (page 509). This is when John finds out the truth and decides to abandon his old life. He finds this necessary because he knew the truth and knew that he can no longer follow his old life because it wasn’t true. He wants to make a new beginning and begin right where the â€Å"gods† left off but more slowly. He wants it slowly because he knows that too much knowledge will eat anyone up. All in all, both stories show that losing part of one’s old self is necessary in order to gain knowledge. Without doing so, the journey will be more difficult. In addition, one must take risks in order to gain knowledge. not finished lost other part How to cite Fahrenheit 451, Papers Fahrenheit 451 Free Essays Professor Faber defines the value of books in Fahrenheit 451 because he is still an avid reader, has a collection of books, and aches to have more. Although he lives in a time where books are censored and considered ObadO, he still finds a way to pursue his true hobby which is reading. Faber believes that the current state of the society is due to people like him who are too afraid to speak out about the truth of burning books for pure pleasure. We will write a custom essay sample on Fahrenheit 451 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Quality is the measure of excellence or state of being free from certain deficiencies. In FaberOs case, quality definitely applies to media other than printed books because the media is able to inevitably control what people can do and say, especially in the future. Faber speaks these words to Montag toward the beginning of OThe Sieve and the Sand,O as he explains the importance of books. Faber tells Montag that itOs not the books themselves that Montag is looking for, but the meaning they contain. The same meaning could be included in existing media like television and radio, but people no longer demand it. According to Faber, Montag is really in search of Oquality,O which the professor defines as OtextureONthe details of life, that is, authentic experience. People need quality information, the leisure to digest it, and the freedom to act on what has been learned. FaberOs comment that a book has OholesO also evokes the sieve in the title OThe Sieve and the Sand. O Trying to fill your mind by reading books is like trying to fill a bucket that is leaking, because the words slip from your memory before you can even finish reading anything. How to cite Fahrenheit 451, Papers Fahrenheit 451 Free Essays Meg Klingner November 18, 2012 Period 6 Fahrenheit 451 In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, technology is used to show what could potentially happen if we don’t think for ourselves. The main characters are Montag and Mildred. Mildred, the spouse of Montag, focuses on the television so much that she forgets to think for herself. We will write a custom essay sample on Fahrenheit 451 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Mildred ends up passing away, and Montag didn’t have any sympathy because their relationship wasn’t very close. Technology has a big impact on not just ourselves, but our own thinking. Fahrenheit 451 demonstrates the TV and technology ruins relationships. Mildred’s complete obsession with TV prevents her from caring for her sick husband. Mildred did not really care about Montag, she had shown no respect for him. All the little things add up, whether it was lying to Montag or not helping him out when he was sick. When you are sick all you want is to rest. Montag asked Mildred to get him an aspirin and some water. Mildred’s response to that is â€Å"That’s my family. † (48) Mildred is basically saying no, that her â€Å"family†, the TV, is more important to her than her husband. This is totally a bungle, because her â€Å"family† is fake TV characters. Montag then asks her to turn it off again. Mildreds response â€Å"‘I will turn it down. ’ She went out of the room and did nothing to the parlor and came back. ‘Is that better? ’ ‘Thanks’† (48) We all know that Mildred is lying to Montag. This shows that TV gets in the way of their relationship. Mildred is brain washed into the television, and would not even turn the parlor down for Montag when he is sick. Mildred showed a lack a respect and lied to her husband. Technology gets in the way of relationships and can make people very unhappy. Faber asks Montage what he wants, and Montag’s says â€Å"Nobody listens anymore. I can’t talk to walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want for someone to hear what I have to say. † (82) Montag is talking to Faber because he is stressed about life. Montag is stressed how Mildred isn’t paying any attention to him, not caring. He also wanted Faber to explain the books. Montag was upset with Mildred because Mildred doesn’t care about him, but her â€Å"family† the television than she does about her own husband. Later on in the page, â€Å"I don’t know. We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. Something’s missing. I looked around. The only think I positively knew of was gone was the books I’d burn in ten or twelve years. † Montag knows that he is unhappy but does’nt know why. Books let us think, unlike the television. This is how Fahrenheit 451 demonstrates the TV and technology ruins relationships. How to cite Fahrenheit 451, Essay examples Fahrenheit 451 Free Essays Violence Is Frequently Relevant To the Society in Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451 is a novel written by Ray Bradbury. In Bradbury’s futuristic novel, violence is prevalently revealed in the society. Violence in society is aggression, cruelty, rough or injurious physical actions and treatment towards the citizens and civilization in the society, where everyone has the same theory and beliefs on the way one should act. We will write a custom essay sample on Fahrenheit 451 or any similar topic only for you Order Now In Fahrenheit 451, everyone is careless and relatively violent with the exception of Clarisse Maclellan who has an innocent love of people and nature. Guy Montag, who is searching for himself and happiness, progresses into a very violent character throughout the novel. Fahrenheit 451 is violent for many reasons including the fact that fire itself is a very violent proposal to engage. The society in Fahrenheit 451 portrays ideas which would not be considered safe in today’s society, such as the â€Å"Mechanical Hound. † The Mechanical Hound is a robot with eight legs and a lethal needle with which it injects morphine or procaine into its victim. The parlor walls, which almost everyone has in the society, also portray violence because the shows and programs they play are often violent. Driving vehicles is not safe in the society, as people repeatedly get killed and hit by cars. Teenagers in Fahrenheit 451 are intrigued by the idea of violence, as are most adults. The way in which the society as well as the people act, violence is frequently relevant in Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, the parlor walls portray violent and negative ideas. Not only do the parlor walls portray violent and negative ideas, but they also instruct the citizens in the society, particularly teenagers how to act violently. The programs that the parlor walls engage in to occupy the citizens are typically based on violence. Mildred Montag as well as the parlor ladies are intrigued and get exceptionally eager when a violent clip is shown on their parlor walls. Since the society in Fahrenheit 451 is so careless of one another and especially children and teenagers, it is doubtful that the guardians care whether or not the children and teenagers are watching the violent programs, as long as they are happy and without stress. Children and teenagers learn from their guardians, but also from television. Since the parlor walls are one of the only things that the society does for interest, it has a huge impact on their lives, and especially the way the citizens’ act. It is probable that this is why teenagers kill each other for the reason that murders are quite frequently advertised in a â€Å"positive† manner on the parlor walls. If the people see something on the parlor walls, it is highly likely that they will act upon what they see, which is mainly violence in the case of Fahrenheit 451. The fact that the parlor walls portray acts of violence may have an impact on the way the society drives. The people in the society driving bring on destruction excessive speed, which causes many careless injuries and deaths. While watching the parlor walls: â€Å"A minute later three white cartoon clowns chopped off each other’s limbs to the accompaniment of immense incoming tides of laughter. Two minutes more and the room whipped out of town to the jet cars wildly circling an arena, bashing and backing up and bashing each other again. Montag saw a number of bodies fly in the air. â€Å"Millie did you see that? † â€Å"I saw it, I saw it! † † (Bradbury 94). The laughter or Mille and the parlor ladies prove that they enjoy the idea of violence, and are amused from it. Often when you enjoy watching something, you enjoy living it as well. It is likely that because the people enjoy watching violence on the parlor walls, they enjoy living violently as well. Since the only thing they have ever experienced is careless, violent actions, this is what makes them happy as appose to peaceful settlements. Therefore violence is frequently prevalent and relevant to the society in Fahrenheit 451. Not only are the parlor walls violent, but the Mechanical Hound is violent. The Mechanical Hound is trained to attack people who have books. The Hound is trained to severely injure, or kill anyone who has any source of a book. The Mechanical Hound can be compared to a dog in today’s society. In today’s society, a dog is quite often trained to be well behaved, and stable. In Fahrenheit 451, the Mechanical Hound is trained to do the opposite of what the typical dog is trained to do today. The Mechanical Hound is a violent threat to the society and nobody wants to have an encounter with it. Rather than solving issues and disagreements with a peaceful settlement, they are solved using the Mechanical Hound. Unlike the firehouse dog in today’s society, the soulless, hollow enforcer Mechanical Hound does not rescue people, but does the opposite. The Mechanical Hound is violent because it goes against Guy Montag, who was once a guardian to the Hound. Although Montag had books, the Mechanical Hound was trained to go after any traitor, but in fact the Mechanical Hound was a traitor itself for going after one who was once its leader. The Mechanical Hound seems like a brilliant idea to the fireman in Fahrenheit 451 and because of its violent actions, it makes it much more significant to everyone, with the exception of thinkers, and book carriers. At the firehouse, Montag is with the Hound: â€Å"Nights when things got dull, which was every night, the men slid down the brass poles, and set the ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the hound and let loose rats in the fire house areaway. Three seconds later the game was done, the rat caught half across the areaway, gripped in gentle paws while a four-inch hollow steel needle plunged down from the proboscis of the hound to inject massive jolts of morphine or procaine. † (Bradbury 24-25). The fact that murdering an innocent creature with morphine and procaine is a game to the fireman proves that this society is very violent. The firemen get enjoyment out of watching the Hounds cruel behavior to an innocent animal. In today’s society, typically someone’s idea of fun is not enjoying watching cruelty towards animals. The fact that the Mechanical Hound kills such a small creature is intimidating to the civilians in society because it can do a lot of harm. Thus the Mechanical Hound being a threat and a supremely dangerous creature in the Society, Fahrenheit 451 is violent novel. The idea of fire is frightening and intimidating. The reality of fire is dangerous and violent. Fahrenheit 451 is based on burning books, and fire. The firemen in the novel are the opposite of fireman today. Rather than distinguishing a fire, they create them. Someone who creates fire, and enjoys fire is known as a pyromaniac. Pyromaniacs are violent, and people usually tend to stay away from them. In Fahrenheit 451, the author portrays fire as being a superior thing. Fire is a positive thing and solves problems in their society. Fire is violent because it can burn down anything within a minute. Once a fire it made, it will not stop until it is put out or is burns out itself which is why fire is so harmfully violent. In Fahrenheit 451, not only does is encourage fire as being a positive thing, but it also encourages eliminating sources of education. Books are a high-quality foundation of education, and play a huge role in today’s society. In Fahrenheit 451, houses get burned down if the proprietor has a book. Fahrenheit 451 is encouraging the idea of education as being a bad thing. The society believes that the only appropriate way to get educated is through parlor walls, but that is only educating people with violence. Late at night while the fireman start a fire: â€Å"The sight of it rushed the men down and out away from the house. Captain Beatty keeping his dignity, backed slowly through the front door, his pink face burnt and shiny from a thousand fires and night excitements. ‘God†, thought Montag, â€Å"how true. Always at night the alarm comes. Never by day. It is because the fire is prettier at night? More spectacle? A better show? † † (Bradbury 39). Words like, â€Å"pretty† and â€Å"beautiful† are used numerous times in Fahrenheit 451, often to describe fire and flames. Violence and fire is not only everyone’s preferred past time, but to them it’s an amusing art. Fire is violent and dangerous and should not be described as pretty or beautiful, but only as violent and dangerous. For the fact that fire is viewed upon as superior, and education is being eliminated and burned, the society in Fahrenheit 451 is habitually violent. It is obvious that Fahrenheit 451 portrays nothing more but a violent theme and violent society. The fact being that the parlor walls represent such crudely and aggressive programs proves that Fahrenheit 451 is nothing more than a violent novel. For the reason that the Mechanical Hound depicts such an intimidating creature which kills blameless civilians, Fahrenheit 451 is evidently interpreted as violent. Fire is described in such words that portray pleasure and bliss in Fahrenheit 451. In realism, fire is the opposite and should only be illustrated as dangerous as well as violent. It is unquestionable that violence is frequently relevant to the society in the novel, Fahrenheit 451. Work Cited Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine Books, 1953. How to cite Fahrenheit 451, Essay examples Fahrenheit 451 Free Essays This woman had a tremendous impact on Montag. She burned with her books. When he is talking with Mildred about it later, he says â€Å"There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine to make a woman stay in a burning house, there must be something there. We will write a custom essay sample on Fahrenheit 451 or any similar topic only for you Order Now You don’t stay for nothing. † (pg 51) Mildred tries to say that the woman was simple-minded and that it is water under the bridge. Montag knows that the experience will last him a lifetime. He cannot put it out of his mind. He goes on to explain that for the first time he realized that a man wrote the books He had to think them up and put them down on paper, and then he came along and in two minutes burned it all up and it was over. It seriously bothered him. montag becomes kinder: he sees the self-destructing, depressed people and is affected by them, instead of merely moving on in his life and not caring. He is so moved by his new change that he states, â€Å"It doesn’t matter what you do, so long as you change something from the way it was. he decides to stand for a real purpose: he decides to rebell against this terribly corrupted government by remembering his book. Quote: It didn’t come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God. Today, thanks to them, you can stay happy all the time, you are allowed to read comics, the good old confessions, or trade journals. Quote: If they give you ruled paper, write the other way. How to cite Fahrenheit 451, Papers