Reading The Bible results in jail for life. This is what life is like for people in Fahrenheit 451. Fahrenheit 451 is book set in the future in an unknown country. The government has censored material so much that most of society conform and become oblivious to what the government has done. Although there is a presence of individuality in Fahrenheit 451, the presence of conformity is more prevalent. Conformity is when a person complies with rules, regulations, and social normalities. Individuality is a quality or character that makes a person different from others. Through the use of individuals, such as Clarisse and Mildred; the government; and media and technology Fahrenheit 451 highlights the key elements of both individuality and conformity. …show more content…
An example of this of this is how in this society people focus on their television walls and seashells (Bradbury 20-21). Therefore, the conforming citizens focus on making sure they have the newest seashells and television walls rather than think about what's going on in the world. This also shows how people in this society are so obsessed with their technology that they don’t talk with anyone unless it’s to talk to them about what television show is the best. An example of how technology has created conformity is through the machine that brings Mildred back to life. This is shown when the operators of the machine talk about suicide as if it is completely normal, and also when they say, “We get these cases nine or ten a night,”(Bradbury 15). This shows that because of society conforming if anything becomes common they will do it if they feel like it. When suicide became common, it became accepted in the conforming society, and people would do it if they have the slightest urge to. An example of how media and technology can make people conform is shown when Beatty talks about how society stopped learning for the most part. They only learned how to speak, which buttons to press for a job, which switches to pull, and how to fit nuts and bolts, and instead of learning the other subjects people watch television (55-56). This shows how the media and technology played a big role in encouraging citizens to conform because …show more content…
The use of individuals such as Guy and Mildred highlights key qualities of both individuality and conformity. The government highlights key elements of conformity, the media and technology highlights what conformity does and keeps the public distracted, and the use of characters in the book highlight elements of both conformity and individuality. The presence of conformity in this novel is very dominant when compared to individuality, which is shown sparingly; although, several times throughout this novel it is implied that having individuality is more desirable than conforming to