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Last but most certainly not least, the void in conversation. Bradbury brings this to attention as an issue but what is failed to be realized that today’s society appreciates silence as a way to just “be” and exist peacefully. Silence can be caused by a plethora of things. One reason could be a small irrelevance, another could be an unforeseen mental illness. The Louisville OCD Clinic wrote an article on the effects of OCD, and part of the cycle they showed anxiety as 25% of the issue. They state “People with OCD not only have obsessions around such fears, but typically feel they must do something to relieve it.” (OCD Clinic). A component of anxiety could be zoning out, not wanting to communicate, or being silent and distant to those around. Another reason the void in conversation might be at bay is due to depression. A symptom of depression is “a loss of interest in activities or hobbies” (Scaccia). This could be the cause of the pauses and lack of replies. According to IAN Research Report #7, a mood disorder could be discovered by realizing “recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt, or a specific plan for committing suicide.” (Krieger). But, the void in conversation isn’t what is causing conflicts in relationships, the unnoticed and untreated mental illnesses and mood disorders are the problems. Silence doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. Silence could mean appreciating the view, or thinking about what someone will say next, or what to say. It doesn’t always mean that the person is ignorant or wants to cause a conflict, and that is where the true misinterpretation lies.

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Bradbury seemed to make a point by adding in social barriers such as ignorance and awkwardness in his prediction of today’s society. Yet, his prediction was inaccurate. More than ever, today’s society is more outspoken of its flaws. Society today knows of its socialization flaws which is why people are so determined to amend these issues. For example, women’s oppression. In the past, it was clear that speaking out for women’s rights was frowned upon, even resulting in jail time, abuse, and public harassment. Yet today the society speaks up for women’s rights and hundreds of thousands of women are making movements and rallies and parades in order to express their concern for the ignorance in society. Therefore, it is not being ignored as it is portrayed in Fahrenheit 451. The article “5 Ways Women are Oppressed in Today’s Society” by Kara Elmo proves that ignorance is not being ignored. This also shows that the people are no longer bystanders to ignorance and oppression. Elmo poses the question “When will we stop talking and start doing?” (Elmo) to show that people are no longer afraid of judgement and awkwardness of sticking up for what they believe in. She states “It has caused Feminists to bloom even more, some are too overbearing and others are not overbearing enough” (Elmo) just further proving the point that society is making its way towards being more open-minded and outspoken. Elmo uses the point of manpower to back up her argument on how women are oppressed. She uses the example of “Upon physical strength, they hold it against us but that doesn't mean they should control us. The president has always been a man, the politicians trust the man's opinion more, and so on. The men created these problems for women and we have to be the ones to fix them.” (Elmo). Speaking out can be awkward for anyone, especially someone who doesn’t have a foot in the door due to their gender, proving that Bradbury’s prediction of ignored ignorance wasn’t accurate. Bringing the conclusion that social barriers aren't ruining relationships because today's society knows how to communicate.

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On the contrary to Ray Bradbury’s prediction of the future society being over consumed in technology in Fahrenheit 451, society today is thriving due to the increased ways of communication from things such as televisions and cell phones. A study found that “We’ve found the exact opposite—that people who use sites like Facebook actually have more close relationships and are more likely to be involved in civic and political activities.” (Hampton). This therefore proves the fact that technology is actually bettering relationships, not ruining them as Bradbury tried to explain. Another quote from the same article proving this would be “They have about 9 percent more close relationships and are 43 percent more likely to have said they would vote.” (Hampton). This once again proves that relationships are improved by the use of technology and social media, and although many people overuse it, it may not be a bad addiction to have. This is due to the fact that it leads to more trusting relationships and involvement in current global events. One could argue that technology tries to replace the irreplaceable human connection by saying “Relationships are essential; humans are social creatures. Human nature craves human interaction, and that interaction cannot be effectively replaced by technology.” (Hampton). This can easily be rebutted with the previously stated statistic on how a study showed that people actively involved in social media have 9% more close relationships than people who don’t. Bradbury made it seem like today’s society would entirely succumbed to technology and ignore their families but that is quite the opposite. Of course there will be some outliers but it would be hard to disagree that technology can actually bring families closer. FOr instance, people can FaceTime loved ones and friends in order to connect to each other when they are far apart. Therefore, bringing people together through a screen and a microphone.

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Fahrenheit 451 is a book of silence. Silence of mental illness. Silence of suicide. Silence of the words written in the books they burned with the woman. Silence of the truth. Ray Bradbury writes in silence to show the void in conversation. He wrote silence in order to show that the void plagued the dystopian society and to show how it affected relationships. The lack of communication drove Mildred and Guy apart because instead of talking through their issues with mental illness, depression, and the pressures of society to burn the books, they stayed quiet: and that killed them inside. The silence caused Guy’s insanity and intense desire for freedom which was why the book resulted as it did. The silence had a deeper effect on Mildred however. Her attempt at suicide could have been prevented if she wouldn’t have been uncommunicative of her internal conflicts. “You took all the pills in your bottle last night… Why would you do a thing like that?” (Bradbury 17). Therefore elucidating the impression that she was quiet about her internal struggles , and showing that if she wasn’t, Guy would care enough to try to help her. After her attempt, their relationship only got worse with keeping secrets and ignoring each other and even fighting. “Silence. Only the wind blowing softly.” (Bradbury 43) This represents the distance between them, by saying the wind blew softly. The sound of the wind represents loneliness because if there is wind, there is space between them, whether its metaphorical or physical.  Guy Montag also struggled with loneliness. “Montag cried out in the silence then turned away” (Bradbury 142). This direct quote is seemingly ironic due to the fact that Guy was originally perceived as a fearless firefighter who would burn books and humans along side of them with no ounce of regret or self-condemnation, yet here he is in his entirety of being alone and he is scared. The only companion he has in his lonely reality is the void.  Another quote that alludes to this is “Kerosene,’ he said, because the silence had lengthened, ‘is nothing but perfume to me.” (Bradbury 4). This quote shows early on in the plot that like kerosene, the quiet would play a prominent role in the progression of the conflict. In the novel, tranquility alludes to the hushed attitudes of the wrongings of the society. This affects relationships because it lets things happen that hurt people.

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Although there were many themes that appeared in Fahrenheit 451, one of the most important and vivid themes that Bradbury resurrected in the novel an abundant amount of times is the theme of social barriers. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury writes miscommunication many times to show how it plagues their society and leaves a social barrier between Guy and other characters in his life such as Mildred, Beatty, and even Clarisse. A social barrier would include ignorance. For example, “Her head turned. Though she was quite obviously not listening” (Bradbury 61). Mildred obviously created a barrier of ignorance by ignoring her husband. Another social barrier is internal conflict. This includes the quote “He tried to conjure up a face to fit the words but there was no face” (Bradbury 20). Although there is no dialogue in this quote, it shows the conflict because Guy is feeling lost to the point where he no longer cares to remember people faces. This relates to relationships because social barriers hold back a healthy relationship. With the social barriers, people in relationships cannot communicate correctly and therefore conflicts will arise. Lastly, a prominent social barrier in Fahrenheit 451 is awkwardness. “Nobody knows anybody” (Bradbury 14). Well, nobody knows anybody because they don’t care enough to know anybody for the fear of things being awkward. Therefore, social barriers get in the way of their fastly developing society.

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Bound By the Walls of Technology (Paragraph 1)

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Bound By the Walls of Technology (Paragraph 1)

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In the science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a commonly shown conflict is how technology is getting in the way of relationships. This theme is displayed in various parts of the novel, usually creating a conflict between Guy Montag, the protagonist, and his wife Mildred Montag. In their society, technology is constantly creating a metaphorical setback in the way conversations and relationships are created and maintained. In this dystopian setting, a popular motif throughout the novel is wall televisions, where the entire wall is an interactive television that engages the consumer in conversation and lets them feel as if they are a part of the program. The Montag household happens to have three wall televisions, nearly surrounding themselves entirely in technology, given that a room has four walls. This poses a problem in the relationship between Montag and Mildred. From the start of the book, it was evident that Mildred had a clear addiction to technology and that it was affecting her relationship. To illustrate, Bradbury wrote Mildred memorizing a script for when the parlor walls spoke her queue and she would feel like part of the show, or the “family”. This caused Mildred to have an overpowering obsession with her virtual “family” and ignore Guy in order to perfect her script. An instance of this happened on page 61, when Guy was explaining his day and how he is starting to struggle and Bradbury wrote “Her head turned. Though she quite obviously was not listening.’’ (Bradbury 41). This quote alone displays her distance due to the bright colors and loud noises distracting her. Another time this conflict is entailed is in the quote “... taken to calling them relatives from the very first” (Bradbury 41). This quote shows how she began to replace her real family with the virtual people in the parlor walls. Mildred begins to slip away from reality at an alarming rate.

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Ray Bradbury wrote the science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 to allude to today’s society and how relationships are buffered by technology, social barriers, and voids in conversation; yet, his prediction is inaccurate because, now more than ever, society has become more self-aware of its socialization flaws, resulting in society’s determination to amend them.

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Hannah Heveland
Mrs. Jenkins
English 10-7H
24 April, 2018

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