A terrifying Dystopia(Essay)

A Terrifying Dystopia
            Fahrenheit 451, older than Everybody in my own high school obviously. Reading this book today is an amazing joy ride if your imagination can keep up, Action, suspense, Post-apocalyptic setting with a society that doesn’t question the government. It seems like… no, it is! the perfect setting for a hit movie that I would definitely pay to watch repeatedly in the theatre. To think that this book was published 65 years ago in 1953 is crazy to think of, but how you ask? How could Ray Bradbury, the author of this Masterpiece predict so many technological advancements we routinely use in our everyday lives like Bluetooth earbuds/Walkie talkies which he called “Seashells” or Parlor walls with Images running on them or as we know them today “Flat screen Televisions”.Bradbury portrays the future of humanity with Technology in a Dystopian society in such a unique but Uncanny accurate way. This High-level thinker foresaw a flaw in Humanity with Technology and quickly pointed it out to the public. So, what does this book written back in the 1950’s have to offer us Millennials pampered with technology?

               Truthfully without technology, most citizens wouldn’t know what to do, by taking technology away from us you’ve just taken our daily utilities like Access to the internet which keeps us informed with what’s going on in the world today, Calculators. We’ve grown so used to having a computer to multiply and divide everything we want that without it most people wouldn’t know how to solve sophisticated problems with a piece of paper and a pencil. By taking technology, you’ve taken our entertainment, Ability to contact anybody in the world simply by entering some digits, set up alarms, organize documents, calendars. The list goes on… Fahrenheit 451 shows us the effects of relying on technology so much that without it we’d just freeze, panic or retaliate. A perfect example would be Mildred, Montags wife. When she doesn’t have technology at arms reach she begins doing really stupid things like overdosing on sleep medication. The whole mood of this book is absolutely depressing… the way these people live their everyday lives in this horrible Wartime filled dystopia where seeing Killing machines fly over your head is just a casual everyday experience… the roaring of the engines zooming past. It also goes to show how the Authorities in the book have controlled or hypnotized the people into believing everything is perfect with the constant propaganda on their Television/Parlor walls.

 Clarisse in this Book plays a regular citizen in their weird society however she actually questions the government and pays attention to detail in everything she sees, Like the grass for instance, the stars, the flowers. She passes on this curiosity to Montag which slowly throughout the book makes Montag realize how Twisted the world he’s living in really is, This is also the beginning of the end for Montags life in that city. Clarisse’s family are known to be thinkers so they are shunned by all around them being “Freaks”, one by one they all eventually “Disappear” and once Clarisse Apparently dies in an accident is when Montag realizes he needs to get out because he knows the same fate of clarisses family awaits him.

               Montag changes throughout the book, no doubt about it but this book also changes the reader in a way. The Tone of the book, its as if you’re in a blindfolded car ride directly running towards a cliff. You know its coming but you’re not sure how long it’ll be before you reach the cliff. In other words, we as the reader know Montag is going to stir up trouble but we aren’t sure when and how until he works up the guts to kill his former Boss as a fireman, Beatty. This whole scene was amazing, the way Ray Bradbury worded every single section of every awesome scene in this book was downright perfect. I have never been so hooked on a book in my entire life. Getting to know each character is up to how the reader views the book, Ray Bradbury never truly describes a person in this book. Instead Bradbury goes into detail of what that person is doing, For example, repeatedly throughout the book Montags hands are seen as these two objects with a mind of their own often doing things even Montag doesn’t realize he’s doing like Picking up books and reading them, even hiding them. All of these elements in the book mix and synchronize so well that its an amazing reading experience for anybody willing to get sucked into a book. SO!, what does this book have to offer us in 2018?, It opens up our eyes and make us appreciate the freedoms we have but also warns us that if we begin relying on technology too much and keep advancing towards too much technology we’re all going to become mindless idiots. It's amazing how Bradbury predicted so much in a time where they had so little technology, I can imagine the fear this novel struck into the adults of the 1950’s, Corrupted Cops, Killing machines, Images on the wall, Firemen who burnt down houses with people in them. Well, this is my perspective on this book…