Analysis Of ‘Fahrenheit 451’
Technology, is very controversial; in some aspects it is a blessing and sometimes it is a burden.
It all depends on the scenario, it may be a blessing in the medical field because of curestreatments, and finding cancers and diseases early on. But it is a burden to social interaction. Next time you go to a restaurant, look around people are on their phones with real people right in front of them and taking pictures of their food for social media. Ray Bradbury warned us about the takeover of technology and how it would hurt our way of life. He also was right about the concept of burning books, because not as many people read books anymore.
His predictions are becoming true.One concept of technology that Bradbury talks about is how parents control their kids with technology. In the quote, ” I plunk the children in schools nine days out of ten. I put with them when they come home three days a month; it’s not bad at all. You leave them in the ‘parlor’ and turn the switch.
It’s like washing clothes; stuff laundry in and slam the lid.” (pg.92) This quote means that it is very easy to leave your kids unattended in front of the TV so they can occupy themselves. This also shows how technology takes over parenting; and will make kids more lazy because watching TV is all they know and they will use this parent tactic when they have kids.Another concept was when Bradbury would strike hard the school system and the kids.
He is quoted ” We never ask questions, or at least most don’t; they just run the answers at you, bing bing, bing, and us sitting there for four more hours… they run us so ragged through the day.” (pg.27) This is very true, I personally rarely will ask a question unless it is important. Also, how teachers just give answers at times and how we are exhausted after school; these are all true and are related to our lives now.There was another concept that I picked up on, and it was burning books.
To me, this meant not realistically we will be burning them but just not using them as much. In the quote, ” There must be something in books,something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” This shows means to me that books have something special and if we stop reading we lose that special connection and adventure that books bring. To me this was ironic because i was reading a book now in the future but it is true because I again personally never read and know many others who don’t as well.
The final concept that I picked up on from Bradbury was when he was saying that books are important to remind us that books help us remind us that we are stupid. This isn’t as pessimistic as you think, it gives us room to improve and that is optimistic. In the quote, ” The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are… the things that you’re looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will see ninety-nine percent of them is in a book.” This shows that books are important to have and that we still need to read and have that experience and that knowledge that books provide.Overall, Bradbury warned us many things that have came true and hopefully we can all learn from this and make a change.
The change could be to put your phone aside and appreciate the people around you and life itself. Encourage your friends and family to communicate more when doing outings or hangouts and stay off their phones.
