The society in Fahrenheit 451 has many similarities along with many differences
of our modern day American society. Some of the similarities of our society and
the society in Fahrenheit 451 are that in our society, which is becoming more
and more technologically advanced, individuals are demanding things to become
faster and faster. As with the society in Fahrenheit 451, everything is fast and
readily available at the touch of a fingertip.
Another similarity in our society
and the society of Fahrenheit 451 is that things that may have been considered
dangerous and rare, such as suicide and murder, is becoming an "everyday
thing" or a usual happening in our society, and was even more routine in the
Fahrenheit 451 society. One other similar characteristic in our society and the
Fahrenheit 451 society is that more and more, our government is starting to turn
the table in their direction and trying to make us conform to their ideology,
along with censoring certain things out of our lives. There are also differences
in our society and the society in Fahrenheit 451. For one, our society does not
make games out of criminal activities, as the society in Fahrenheit 451 does.
Another difference in our society and the society in Fahrenheit 451 is that our
present day government and society does not see war as a usual thing and does
not take war lightly, like the government and society in Fahrenheit 451 does.
Our present day society is becoming more and more technologically advanced, and
as a result things are becoming faster and easier to use. In the society of
Fahrenheit 451 technology has developed further than in our world and has
therefore probably met the demands that we have now. Still, the citizens in
Fahrenheit 451 have increased their demand for speed and ease of use. For
example, the cars in Fahrenheit 451 exceed the present day speed limits and are
allowed legally to "speed".
In our society cars are also becoming faster and
faster, and as a result, the speed limit is constantly being broken. Also, in
Fahrenheit 451 the banks are open twenty-four hours a day with electronic
tellers, in order to make it easier for the citizens to get money faster and
anytime that they feel like taking it out of their account. In our society new
banking techniques are being developed. Such as ATMs which are very similar
to the robots in Fahrenheit 451, in the sense that they allow anybody with an
ATM account to withdraw cash anytime of the day. This is evidence that our
society is becoming more and more technologically advanced and dependent and
insistent on faster things. Another similarity between our society and the
society in Fahrenheit 451 is that events such as murder and suicide are becoming
more common than they used to be.
For example, in Fahrenheit 451 when mille
overdosed on her sleeping pills, instead of an ambulance coming to take her to
the hospital, a "crew" came to her house to pump her stomach, and flush her
blood. When Guy asked why they didnt have to bring her to the hospital, they
told him that it was routine and it happened 7 or 8 times on his block a night.
This is also evident in our society. An example would be that our hospitals have
certain teams to respond to anything from attempted suicides to attempted
murders. Another example in our society would be that we have established
numbers that you can call if somebody consumes a poison (poison control center)
were the operator can give you information on how to control the poison or get
it out of the persons system.
One other similarity between our society and the
society in Fahrenheit 451 is that the government in both societies are gradually
turning the table in their direction and slowly trying to force their ideology
on us. Trying to form a Indoctrinate type of society. This is slowly taking
effect in our society and we are not reacting to it in the way that we should,
rather we are ignoring it and letting it take place. If we keep letting it
happen, than our society can end up like the society in Fahrenheit 451, in which
the government basically controls their lives, and does not let them be exposed
to different ideas than what the government sees fit.
Censoring out any outside
ideas such as books and education. As a result of censoring out these materials
our society can end up like the society in Fahrenheit 451 in the fact that the
government can make certain agencies, such as the firemen who burn books, to
stop us from sharing other peoples ideas. Along with similarities, there are
also differences in our society and the society in Fahrenheit 451. One of these
differences is that our society (at least not yet) makes games out of illegal
activities. For example, in Fahrenheit 451 Clarrise was run over by somebody
speeding.
This was considered a normal case, since in this society there was a
game, which teens played, in which you got a certain amount of points if you hit
a person. Although this may occasionally happen in our society too, it is not
considered normal, and is not looked upon as "teens just having fun" as it
is looked upon in Fahrenheit 451. This is a distinct difference between our
society and the society in Fahrenheit 451. One other difference between our
society and the society in Fahrenheit 451 is that the society and government in
Fahrenheit 451 takes war very lightly and sees it as an routine happening.
There
are always bombers going overhead and the wives of the men in the army are
always taking of how quick the war is going to be "48 hours, its going to be
quick war". However, in our society war is taken very seriously and usually
lasts for weeks if not months, and the wives and husbands of members of the
armed forces worry about how long their partner will be away and if the will die
or not. This is another difference of our society and the society in Fahrenheit
451. These are some of the similarities and differences of our society and the
society of Fahrenheit 451. I hope that you have realized by reading this, that
our society is not very different from the Fahrenheit 451 society. Also that if
we keep up the way we are living that we may end up like the society in
Fahrenheit 451.
Also I hope that you have realized that the things that we are
taking for granted, such as books and other materials are slowly becoming more
and more rare, and if we keep taking these things for granted, they may
disappear along with our morals and values as happened to the society in
Fahrenheit 451. I hope you have enjoyed this essay and that this essay has
taught you about the Fahrenheit 451 society and our society and what the
differences and similarities between the two are.