The following is a paper I submitted at Purdue University for ENGL 223: Literature and Technology
Society has been permanently shifted in the last few years. With the irrepressible rise of social media in the modern techno-cultural ecosystem we exist in, it is guaranteed that the world will continue to change dramatically as the years go on. With the constant march forward in terms of technology, especially at the rate at which it is currently speeding ahead at, the future 10 years from now could well be incredibly different relative to what we now see as normal; whether that future is good or bad is something only time will tell, but following in line with Fahrenheit 451, it is likely to be a rather bleak one. Ray Bradbury, the author of the Fahrenheit 451, was inspired to write the book following the politics of World War II, the Cold War, the rise of television, Nazi regime censorship and more, and all of it is reflected in the work and all of that is reflected in our modern day.
Fahrenheit 451 follows our protagonist, Guy Montag, through a process of enlightenment where he goes from a societal conformist to a rebel as the story runs its course. Montag is a “fireman”, he burns books and does not question his goals or motivations; he lives as a sheep, doing what he sees being done. That is, until he meets Clarisse, a young curious girl who questions everything about life, this sparks something inside Montag who starts questioning his line of work and his whole reason for existence, eventually culminating in him taking a book he was meant to burn. This causes a ripple in his cognition, as if he is just waking up from the trance of normality, and like dominoes falling one after the other, Montag becomes more aware of the chains strapped onto him by society. He questions the world around him, accumulating twenty or so books in his own home, all the while burning hundreds of them. Soon, he reaches a breaking point and escapes to a rebel group whose main purpose is to rebuild the world with a emphasis on freedom of thought and speech and treating books with respect after atomic devastation wipes the slate clean.
The term “firemen” in this world, it used as a subversion of the reader’s expectations. The firemen fight with fire, not against it. This tells the reader that this world is very different from the one that they reside in, a distorted image of future civilization. However, it does make an apt guess as to where society was headed regarding its themes of censorship, governmental control, individuality, conformity, etc. As well as symbols such as the books, the fire, and the characters of Mildred, Clarisse, Montag, etc.
The firemen in Fahrenheit 451 burn books because they have been banned in an attempt to “maintain the social order”. Any in possession of them get their homes burned down along with their collection. If the owners are alive, they are sent to reformation camps, otherwise they are burned to a crisp. Eventually, Montag falls victim to his line of work and he himself burns his house down along with the collection of books he had accumulated. His wife, Mildred, had reported him. According to Chief Fireman Beatty, who was an avid reader at one point, society got too overpopulated and sensitive to insult that it began to threaten social order, and so the burning of these controversial books became common place. All these acts symbolize the burning of free thought.
The fire in Fahrenheit 451 symbolizes a dual element of creation and destruction, it is in the hands of whoever uses the fire to choose the direction that it will lean towards. Fire can also symbolize knowledge and creativity, producing a sense of morbid irony when we see the books being destroyed using the flames. The fire at the camp near the end of the novel which Montag flees to symbolizes warmth and comradery, juxtaposing the main role of fire in the story which has been to destroy when this instance shows us the aspect of creation.
Books symbolize original ideas, creativity, and humanity in general and the burning of these depicts the state of Montag’s world. Free thought is no longer permitted and thinking for oneself is a relic of the past; blissful and willing ignorance is the norm and is an unchallenged status quo.
This idea is further fleshed out with the use of seashell radios and wall-screen TVs, the public is funneled down a path that is paved by the government carefully curating what they see and hear. From whatever reality TV program Mildred watches to her constant use of the seashell radio, she is representative of the part of the population that has completely adopted this way of life. She is completely disconnected from reality, constantly overstimulated and unable to formulate her own opinions because it is easier to take whatever comes as fact and never question a thing, after all, when something is all, you know, questioning it with prompting would be odd. Mildred is a conformist through and through, and likely a member of this society that the government in Fahrenheit 451 would deem ideal.
All this can be a frightening allegory for our modern world, especially regarding the phenomenon that has taken the world by storm and entrapped many minds in its web: social media.
Social media operates on algorithms, everything that one sees when scrolling through their feed is served to them based on what an algorithm thinks they would enjoy, and the more they interact, the more precise that serving gets. This can create what is known as an echo chamber, which is when everyone reflects your opinion, hence, an echo. This can make one jaded towards any other opposing point of view, they stay in their own bubbles of ignorance; rejecting any concept that does not exactly align with their own. This can alienate other points of view, and thus create many small echo chambers.
Harkening back to the burning of books, we can see it in action here. Unknown ideas are rejected for the more comfortable known, this stunts original thought for the same phrases parroted to whatever circle. Along with the abundance of information in the modern world, a lot of which can be incorrect, fact checking is often too much work and false information may also get repeated and spread; cross referencing and thinking for ourselves is already becoming an ancient concept.
We can also see wall-screen TVs and seashell radios in social media, particularly from the angle of overstimulation. Social media, notably when consumed in large amounts (which is the norm) can lead to a lot of overstimulation, through sounds, images, or overall information. News can often be depressing, and so much of it from so many places can make one desensitized to all the terrible occurrences across the world. With all this information constantly assaulting the mind, most of which tends to be opinionated, it colors the ideology of whoever reads it. If one has prior belief on a certain subject, they are less likely to alter their opinion, or even entertain an antithetical take on the same concept this is called ego involvement.
Not to mention, the constant distraction posed by social media prevents people from articulating their own thoughts, therefore making it easier for people to target them with opinionated posts, making them shift their views and adopt a viewpoint that is beneficial to whomever wanted them to think that certain way. This has become such a notorious problem that it has been used in presidential elections, namely the 2014 one, where Republican candidate Donald Trump used hyper-targeted advertisements for his campaign to secure voters; government using the most popular medium of news consumption to sway the opinions of the public is not a fiction quarantined to Fahrenheit 451. The government using media to control the public, choosing what is said and phrasing truths in awkward ways and leaving much up to interpretation makes it a very lucrative form of mass control.
Fahrenheit 451 is a nuanced book that is still highly relevant to the current face of society. We can see that the nuances of individuality and conformity be well realized long before it became a genuine issue. Bradbury had the foresight to really pin down how media would develop and how that may treat a human cognition and even how it affects our day to day lives to the extent of Mildred needing an seashell radio just to fall asleep. With such a well thought out and executed novel, it is not difficult to see why this book is still talked about to this day, through the rise of newer and more complex technology, the analogies of televisions and radios may become outdated but the intrinsic idea of censorship by the government is likely a discussion that will not die any time soon. Likely, the flame of this debate may rage even hotter as times goes on. Social media shows no signs of stopping anytime soon and it is likely to grow more and more advanced. All we can hope is that there is never a world where the idea of free speech is a foreign concept.
Saye Kamal 