Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 - Essay Example

In the futuristic society people’s main leisure activity is watching TV, independent thinking and reading are illegal, books are burned, and information given to the citizens is censored. The protagonist Montag, who burns books for a living, does not question such way of life. However, a meeting with a teenager Clarisse changes the main character’s point of view. Clarisse does not share the values of the society and prefers traditional pastimes of reading, contemplating and talking to people.

Talking to her Montag starts to realize that even though advanced gadgets can make life easier, technology and mass culture can take over human lives. Fast development of technology gives the impression that we already live in the world described by Bradbury in the novel. It is evident in the fact that modern life cannot be imagined without TV, computers, social networks and instantaneous exchange of information. People have the impression that they already live in the future. However, the future based on digital technology and mass culture hides threats modern people overlook.

Ray Bradbury more that a decade ago predicted what the course of development taken by our society could bring. In the novel Bradbury warns us about the danger of: abuse of technology that can distort reality and isolate people; consumerism that lays the foundations for the uniform pleasure-seeking society; manipulation through mass media that can result in the loss of free will. By describing the damage caused by lack of human communication, fascination with superfluous entertainment and media manipulation, Bradbury’s purpose is to prevent such conditions before they occur.

For one thing, the more people rely on machines, the less they value and notice humans. As a consequence, in digital society, people are lonely and isolated from real world connections. Through the persona of Faber, English professor made redundant in