Fahrenheit 451 Individuality Essay

“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” (78). If everyone was identical, there would be a loss of individuality. Placed in a dystopian society, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the society has restrictions against reading in all forms. Firemen’s jobs are to create fires by burning books instead of the original intended purpose: putting out fires. The civilization has become focused on having fun instead of doing things that are productive. Ray Bradbury uses characterization to show the theme of individuality. Before Montag developed into his own person, he followed the same behavior as everyone else in society, but he encounters some people who do not …show more content…
Montag has to think craftily to escape the authorities, “He tossed his own clothing into the river and watched it swept away. Then, holding the suitcase, he walked out in the river until there was no bottom and he was swept away in the dark” (139). He switches into friend’s clothes in order to make it more arduous for the tracking hound to find him by scent. Montag’s ability act on the fly is what ends up saving his life, but also the fact that the government wants the capture of Montag to be filmed ends up being their downfall. The government wants the people to be entertained and have a good conclusion to the “story” that they are watching, so they fake the capture of Montag by abducting a civilian off of the street and they play it off by not zooming in on his face. Montag ultimately escapes the prison of a life that he has been living since the day he was born by trusting his instincts and following his