Technology In Fahrenheit 451, By Ray Bradbury
Most adolescents and adults find the idea of an invasion by aliens or robots superseding mankind as intriguing possibilities. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury describes an America in the future in a different, more realistic light the government bans reading and war plagues society. Whether a work of science fiction portrays a theme of a post-apocalyptic world or the mutation of human characteristics, authors base their work on reality. In today’s world, while technology certainly brings benefits, such as the replacement of some written works in digital form, certain innovations can corrupt younger audiences by introducing violence and influencing the amount of time spent in front of a screen, versus time spent reading. Bradbury uses his novel
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In Bradbury’s dystopian society, the government only permits citizens to watch government-approved TV shows. By destroying any chances of reading or thinking in leisure time, the government exposes the citizens to the limited activities of working or watching an updated version of television. This eliminated room for free thought among citizens, and it still rings true today. Likewise, Bradbury raises the concern of the effects of a totalitarian government, which obtains its power by manipulating the media and therefore manipulating the minds of citizens, as seen in Fahrenheit 451. To put it briefly, Bradbury uses Beatty’s dialogue to convey how the switching from a literature-educated to media-educated society may be a reality in the twenty-first century. The author bases his disturbing conclusion upon the onset of World War …show more content…
In addition, Bradbury illustrates the decimation of Montag’s city, “For another of those impossible instants the city stood, rebuilt and unrecognizable [...] and then the city rolled over and fell down dead. The sound of its death came after” (153). The concentration of media on other matters keeps the people unaware of the detrimental situation, a subject in which Martin Kich touches on in his article “Television and Warfare” when he claims that “the way that television portrays war [...] can have an effect on how war is thought about in the abstract” (Kich). Because earlier in Fahrenheit 451 people brought up war casually, the bomb going off in the city speaks volumes of warfare’s impact (maybe we should
In Bradbury’s dystopian society, the government only permits citizens to watch government-approved TV shows. By destroying any chances of reading or thinking in leisure time, the government exposes the citizens to the limited activities of working or watching an updated version of television. This eliminated room for free thought among citizens, and it still rings true today. Likewise, Bradbury raises the concern of the effects of a totalitarian government, which obtains its power by manipulating the media and therefore manipulating the minds of citizens, as seen in Fahrenheit 451. To put it briefly, Bradbury uses Beatty’s dialogue to convey how the switching from a literature-educated to media-educated society may be a reality in the twenty-first century. The author bases his disturbing conclusion upon the onset of World War …show more content…
In addition, Bradbury illustrates the decimation of Montag’s city, “For another of those impossible instants the city stood, rebuilt and unrecognizable [...] and then the city rolled over and fell down dead. The sound of its death came after” (153). The concentration of media on other matters keeps the people unaware of the detrimental situation, a subject in which Martin Kich touches on in his article “Television and Warfare” when he claims that “the way that television portrays war [...] can have an effect on how war is thought about in the abstract” (Kich). Because earlier in Fahrenheit 451 people brought up war casually, the bomb going off in the city speaks volumes of warfare’s impact (maybe we should