...Identity is a very unique element that defines who you are, where you live and what your life is like. Society is a huge factor that plays into creating an identity. For example, society affects identity by establishing the rules in which one lives in. The book Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist, Guy Montag, is living in a society where no one reads books and always entertained by the “parlor walls” or their living room entertainment systems. He is a fireman, but instead of putting out fires, he makes fires and uses them to burn books, hence the title Fahrenheit 451, the temperature at which paper burns. His identity is very corrupt as he has nothing to do except burn books. In the text, Montag is always on a mission, going to houses and burning...
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... technology helps communication and our whole society thrives off of new advancements. However, in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the people that live in this story experience life a whole different way. Their whole lives revolve around technology. The characters never leave their house to experience reality and always have their eyes plastered to the parlor walls. Bradbury’s perception of culture in the society of Fahrenheit 451 and modern day society recognizes the chaos that our society is evolving into, yet contrasts the way technology enhances, creates our identity, and is reliable...
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...Ignorance has lead to some of the world’s most devastating events in history; the Holocaust, World War I, and the Twin Tower attack on the eleventh of September 2001. Consequently, Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury has multiple examples of destruction and how it was caused because of a uniform society. The society in Fahrenheit 451 is constructing itself to lead to a horrific event because citizens are having ignorance towards books and individually as well as ideas. Therefore, individuality is worth fighting for otherwise, the ignorance will lead to prejudice and destruction, which is currently shown in several characters, demonstrating the importance of individuality. Individuality impacts innovation, maintains our identity it’s vital...
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...The themes within Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury differ from the themes in many of Poe’s stories, but also share some similarities. In Bradbury’s story, major themes include the influence censorship has on societies, the violent nature of human beings, and the discovery of self identity. Many of the themes in Poe’s stories include the effect of the loss of a loved one and the impacts of death on others. While the themes are not completely connected, Bradbury uses the death of one of Montag’s neighbors to spark a disgust in his current society which in turn leads to his discovery of his self identity. The violent nature of human beings drove others to kill Montag’s neighbor through a violent car chase. In stories such as “The Fall of The House...
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...Corruption. It is the everlasting result that impacts a society due to a group of unsuitable people obtaining a position of authority, enforcing their beliefs onto the general public, taking total advantage of a nation. Reflecting its government, civilization is now corrupt as well; oppressed and stripped of their identities as individuals within the community. Regulations. This not only strips a population of their identity, but also steals the freedom of individuals to think independently. Society is now completely brainwashed and unable to realize their potential and ability to expand their views upon world around them. Survival. It is what’s left for mankind when all of civilization has come to an end in a downward spiral. The causes and...
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...Rama Khader Mrs.Kellogg H English (Per.4) 3 November 2015 The Hearth and the Salamander “I am fire. I am death” taken from the Hobbit is filled with a lot of meaning. In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, fire is nothing but death. A hearth and a salamander both have characteristics of fire, hence they both bring destruction and death. Although many readers might think the Hearth and the Salamander might mean warmth and light, other readers will think the name “The Hearth and the Salamander” is symbolic of fire, evil and the destruction the fireman brings on as shown throughout the entire first section of the book. A hearth is the floor near or in the fireplace. Usually where the fire is. Fire brings warmth when needed,...
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...around the world, governments use imprisonment, censorship, and intimidation to silence their people in continuing their totalitarian control. As witnessed by Fascist governments of Italy, Germany, and Spain to modern forms of oppression through North Korea, Africa, and the Middle East, nations have use these tactics to establish authority. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and the poem “Ballad Of Birmingham” by Rudley Randall, both authors demonstrates government oppression. As Fahrenheit 451 demonstrates oppression through censorship by burning books, “Ballad...
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...One of the worlds greatest literary figures, William Shakespeare, voiced the truth about desired knowledge by saying that “ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven”. One must presume that Ray Bradbury, Author of Fahrenheit 451, learned from this. Ray Bradbury’s distopian novel shares a similar representations towards knowledge. In the novel the protagonist, Guy Montag, becomes aware of the fact that he is living in a world were knowledge and individuality is lost. People tolerate and abide by the rules and limitations specified by the government. There is nothing except for books in this society to cause people to wonder about how valuable and important knowledge and identity are. Guy Montag is a fireman whose job is to search for books and burn them. Most of the people in Fahrenheit 451 are convinced that books are a waste of time and are useless. Montag also believes this up until a change of...
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...While conforming to society’s ideals are beneficial, it is also very harmful for the person to lose their sense of individuality. There would be no way to differentiate people from others as they would all think and act alike. These two themes of conformity and individuality recur throughout the three works: Anthem by Ayn Rand, Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. These three works establish a society in which every citizen needs to conform to the society’s ideals and those who refuse to follow these are seen as outcasts and punished. Conforming to society's beliefs will cause and help fix some problems. If everyone chose to stick with society's ideals, there would be less fighting amongst people, everyone would be cooperative and helpful, but each person would lose their individuality. They would not be able to think for themselves, know what they believe in, or even form their own identity....
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...Fahrenheit 451 Quotes Identity Quotes: 1) "You're one of the few who put up with me. That's why I think it's so strange you're a fireman, it just doesn't seem right for you, somehow." Montag’s identity crisis begins during his conversations with Clarisse. We immediately sense conflict between his desire to be a dutiful member of society and his inner belief that something is wrong. 2)"I mean," he said, "in the old days, before homes were completely fireproofed–" Suddenly it seemed a much younger voice was speaking for him. He opened his mouth and it was Clarisse McClellan saying, "Didn't firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?" Montag escapes the guilt of betraying his duty by ascribing his actions to other things: in this case, to another person 3) The numbness will go away, he thought. It'll take time, but I'll do it, or Faber will do it for me. Someone somewhere will give me back the old face and the old hands the way they were. Even the smile, he thought, the old burnt-in smile, that's gone. I'm lost without it. Montag isn’t just talking about the numbness in his legs; he’s afraid of his new rebellious, fugitive self. 4) "All of those chemical balances and percentages on all of us here in the house are recorded in the master file downstairs. It would be easy for someone to set up a partial combination on the Hound's ‘memory,’ a touch of amino acids, perhaps. That would account for what the animal did just now. Reacted...
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...While happiness can be achieved through materialistic things, Benzadi, along with Ray Bradbury and Ayn Rand, agrees that not all things can bring true happiness to life. Similarly to Benzadi’s idea, the novels Fahrenheit 451 and the novella Anthem, by authors Bradbury and Rand, display that to reach a high level of satisfaction, one must have a desire for knowledge, freedom to express individuality, and a desire to belong. Once these are accomplished, true happiness can be achieved. The hunger for the unknown of knowledge often creates satisfaction through. For example, in...
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...RAY DOUGLAS BRADBURY He was an American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and poet. Although the genre of many of Ray Bradbury’s stories is fiction, he rejected being categorized as a science fiction author, claiming that the only story he has ever written that is a science fiction story is Fahrenheit 451. BIOGRAPHY Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. He enjoyed a relatively idyllic childhood in Waukegan, which he later incorporated into several semi-autobiographical novels and short stories. Bradbury's life revolved around magic, magicians, circuses, and other such fantasies. He decided to become a writer at about age 12 or 13. He later said that he made this decision to "live forever" through his fiction. His first official pay as a writer came for contributing a joke to George Burns's Burns & Allen Show. In 1937, he became a member of the Los Angeles Science Fiction League, whose help enabled him to publish four issues of his own science-fiction fan magazine, or "fanzine," Futuria Fantasia. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. His formal education ended there because they had no money to send him to college due to the Depression. However, he became a "student of life," selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942. He published his first short story in a fan magazine in 1938. Bradbury says that he learned to write by recalling his own experiences. Many...
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...“Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation.” Over the past decade technology has advanced to greater heights than ever before. Doing research that once took days of reading books and studying in the local library with every other student, now can be completed with a simple Google search in the comfort of your own home. In todays current society, everyone seems to spend a vast majority of their time browsing the internet, viewing the media, or using any other electronic device that can provide a source of entertainment. Technology has invaded our entire lives and has become something that almost everybody uses and is nearly unavoidable. The matter at hand is will the rate our technology advances be in favor of society or will be bring its eventual downfall? The fact of the matter is, at the current accelerating rate that technology is growing is will affect us negatively. One of the main reasons technology is becoming a detriment in this generation is obsession. There are many of those who are already obsessed with todays technology. Now, according Susan Maushart, a mother of three teenagers says her children “inhabit” the media. Mrs. Maushart says “Did I say they do their schoolwork like that? Correction. They do their life like that.”(Maushart, Winter) This statement is true for for a good portion...
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...Fahrenheit 451-“ The temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns” (title page). In Fahrenheit 451, science fiction author Ray Bradbury wrote a novel about censorship and about governments taking away the rights of citizens. In several ways, Bradbury’s theme seems to describe the circumstances Americans have been living in since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In the novel, as well as in the film, Bradbury presents the reader with his viewpoints on censorship which provide a parallel perspective comparing how American citizens have lived prior to and after the 9/11 attacks. Bradbury’s novel begins with explicit details describing the burning of books. The opening is somewhat alarming because burning books is not what a normal person would consider to be the duty of a firefighter. The government has made it forbidden and unlawful to read books. As a reader, I could not help myself from thinking back to the times of Communism in the Soviet Union and Nazism in Hitler’s Germany. During the 1950s, in protest to Communism and Nazism, many of the same token books were being burned here in the US. In the film a symbolic relationship between black, evil, Communism, and death is painted by the firefighters jet-black hardened helmets and their jet black flameproof jackets. The color black seems to symbolize the coming of death. The firefighters wore all black uniforms and they rode on a very red box-like shaped vehicle filled with petrol. The red could symbolize...
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...The book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury has many themes, but one of them is conformity vs. individuality. This theme shows that conformity and individuality can never be associated together because they contradict each other. Conformity is an act of consenting with someone or something to the extent that the person agreeing has no say and just follows. Whereas, individuality is the separation of the crowd or means that their is one single personality present. Through the whole plot of the story, there happens to be many representations of this theme. One distinct character that has this particular theme written all over them is Clarisse McClellan. On page 26-27, there is a section of dialogue between Guy and Clarisse, one of her responses...
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