Fahrenheit 451 Critical Essay

Jamie Moseley 17, October, 2012 Ms. Telesca English 101H Fahrenheit 451 outline In all(a) societies, knowledge breeds life sentence and recogniseing about world and the world surrounding it. Without the single-valued functionful application of knowledge, the entropy of ignorance sweeps civilization into kick downstairs and decay. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury asserts the point that knowledge is the foundation of civilization and if removed, what is left is a decaying fellowship ravaged by stupidity and immorality. War, technology, and paradox shape a world that treats lies as truth and knowledge as sin.The characters in Fahrenheit 451 recitation technology as a mirroring motif, reflecting the characteristics of the society that invents things analogous headphones, bio-purging systems, and grotesque mechanical beasts. At first, headphones seem analogous a atoxic invention, nevertheless actually showcase the fruitless knowledge of the people who use it. Montag discovers th is when he observes Mildred using the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of wholesome . . . coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind (Bradbury 10).What Mildred listens to is not knowledgeable instruction, but merely a bombardment of sound and baseless facts utilize to asphyxiate her mind. The Seashell radios force information on the listener to stymie out thought and short-circuit the listeners creative faculties. again Mildred uses the radios, but Montag finds her eyes wide and staring at the fathoms of blackness in a higher place her in the ceiling (39), as though she is nothing but a shell. It is interesting that the radios atomic number 18 called Seashells for seashells mimic the sound of the ocean just as the listeners of the radios mimic the information of the ocean of sound.People become nothing more than seashells that sound reflection jeopardize the same bogus facts as truth without question. This empty society not only depresses free thought, but in addition dehumanizes its citizens. In the spring of the book, Montag walks home to find Mildred overdosing on sleeping pills and calls the emergency line. In no time, devil men walk in with two machines that are used to purge Mildreds system. unrivalled machine slides down into your stomach ilk a black cobra down an echoing well looking for all the old water . . (11) while the former(a) is wish an eye in force(p)-looking the operator the ability to gaze into the soul of a person whom he was pumping out(11). These machines invade the dupes body in a way that violates the persons humanity. The blood transfusion results in the victim becoming a wind-up toy. This incident portrays the indifference to contendd an unmarrieds life because of the violation of ones body and disregard for personal emotion. However, the trump out embodiment of Montags society is the mechanical run.The hound is introduced as an around undead creature, one that lies but does not live in its gently humming . . . kennel in a dark corner of the firehouse (21). like the hound, its creators neither live nor die but simply exist in a dark, backwards existence and wait for their next orders. The game of bets and cobblers last the firemen play explains the hounds purpose. The hound traps its prey, gripping in gentling paws while a four-inch fag steel needle plunges down from the proboscis of the hound to fool away massive jolts of morphine and procaine (23).The people, or prey, of this civilization are confine by a gentle, yet nightmarish circumstance which injects massive amounts of ludicrous pleasure and phony facts that create a sur authoritative yet socialize situate of being like the side effects of morphine and procaine. subsequently Montag witnesses the killing, he asks Beatty if the hound is alive. Beatty immediately responds Come off it. It doesnt like or dislike. It just period of playctions . . . (24). The masses merely function like the hound going day to day in a mindless state of existence like mechanical globes. Also, the hound with its eight incredible worm legs . . . (23) exposes the distortion of reality that is believed by people who would call this monstrous creation a hound though there is almost no parity between it and a dog. It is one of the twisted machines that go up the dystopia Montag lives in. underneath the futuristic advances of this civilization lies the true dystopian world that is Fahrenheit 451. identical George Orwells 1984, eonian war in foreign regions is present in this culture as bombers concentrate f white overhead every night like the rocket bombs of Winstons world. Montag, in the heat of rage, questions the war effort and asks why doesnt someone want to talk about itWeve started and won two atomic wars since 2022 (69). Even after two atomic wars, the bombers still fly in formation, striking fear into the populace and rallying it together to localise its attention on a greater cause instead of the fictitious character of their lives. War is inescapable on the radio where Montag hears the radio announce that . . . war may be declared any hour . . . (30), which keeps the population on alert and standing by to defend its borders rather than defending their individual lives from the invasion of ignorance. Killing also unveils the dilapidated social structure as Clarisse states, Im afraid of children my own age.They kill each other (27). Death no longer inhibits the actions of others, but instead becomes a reciprocal fact of everyday life like breathing. Even Mildred, who comments on Montags need to smash things, suggests taking the beetle for a spin. Its fun out in the country. You hit rabbits, sometimes you hit dogs. Go take the beetle (61). Killing has no consequence anymore whether one kills an animal(prenominal) or murders a human. Death, like war, distracts people through fear. Everyone fears for their own life, but cares nothing for t he lives of others. Suicide, however, is the exception to this rule.When one enjoys their life so much, they commit suicide. One of the operators who saves Mildred from overdosing casually says we get these cases nine or ten times a night (13), as if it is nothing serious. On top of that, he also states that you take out the old blood and put in the new blood and youre okay (12). The reason for suicide is that the people lead such hollow lives wrapped in cheap entertainment which leaves them without purpose. The lack of knowledge does not help because with knowledge, one can assume a purpose and dedicate reason to life.Without it, there is no way to find a purpose and therefore people toss themselves away. However, they are foundn their meaningless lives back through transfusion and begin again the downward spiral surround by paradox and contradiction. To place the final nail in the pose of free thought, paradoxical ideas are substituted for knowledge that leaves society vacuo us. Like the Ministry of bonk in 1984, the firemen are a contradiction of good and evil. Beatty tells Montag that they are the delight Boys, the Dixie Duo . . . we stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy . . (59) though they bring destruction and even death wherever they are sent. Yet, they whole- tinderedly believe that their duty is one of ultimate justice for the good of man whereas it is the opposite. This twisting of reality appears in the television shows like Mildreds family. She feels like she belongs with them, crying out my family is people. They tell me things I laugh, they laugh (69). The family creates a sense of belonging and inclusion that actually excludes and cuts the viewer off from the real world by satisfying the need for information.Watching television is an exclusive role which Montag soon realizes. In frustration, Montag asks Mildred, does your family love, love you very much, love you with all their heart and soul, Mil lie? (73). What Mildred feels for the family is a surrogate set of emotions, substituting fact and truth with what she sees and hears, causing her to truly love the family even though it is merely a program. Beatty explains the constant attack of pseudo-knowledge and emotion Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of facts they feel stuffed , but absolutely brilliant with information (58).He goes on to say if the drama is bad, if the film says nothing, if the play is hollow, sting me with the Theremin, loud . . . I just like solid entertainment (58). What Beatty is alluding to is if the masses are overrun with useless information, paradoxical ideas, and false emotions, they will believe that they understand the world around them from what they have absorbed and consider it truth and live in stupid intelligence which is the greatest paradox presented. Like light and darkness, knowledge drives off ignorance.However, Bradbury creates a culture where knowledg e is stifled in an impenetrable web of ignorance that dictates the lives of the characters in Fahrenheit 451. Murder, machines, and contradictions are used to give false purpose and reason to humanity in place of knowledge. The superstar Montag journeys through this dangerous environment in an attempt to find himself and break the horrific truth that without reason, destruction and rot await to consume all who ignore intelligence. Works Cited Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.