The 1950’s: “The Golden Age of Television”, a time when 83% of Americans spent leisure time watching images flicker through an iconic-looking, vintage box on legs, the television. Yet, in Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451,100% of the population owns interactive televised megascreens, known as parlor walls. In this futuristic society where books are forbidden, Guy Montag lives the life of a content fireman with one job; he must burn the books and houses in which they are discovered. However, his daily regimen is subject to change when he meets a lively 17 year-old girl, Clarisse Mcclellan, who revitalizes Montag in every aspect of his nature. Similarly, Bradbury’s short story, “There Will Come Soft Rains”, takes place in a modernistic time,
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Through both stories, Bradbury conveys the idea that humans are capable of destroying themselves as a race, but through management of technology and utilization of knowledge, they can also resurrect and learn from their mistakes.
The idea of an orderly society or system is apparent in both Fahrenheit 451 and “There Will Come Soft Rains”, as the execution of achieving this goal is similarly modern and mechanical. In Fahrenheit 451, after Montag is declared as a criminal outlaw, a ubiquitous announcement lights up the TV set: “‘--Mechanical Hound never fails. . .Tonight, this network is proud to have the opportunity to follow the Hound by camera helicopter as it starts on its way to …show more content…
Just like in any other society, kids go to school, but, in Fahrenheit 451, they are taught by watching TV: “‘An hour of TV class, an hour of basketball or baseball or running, another hour of transcription history or painting pictures, and more sports, but do you know we never ask questions, or at least most don’t’” (Bradbury, Fahrenheit 29). This obscure way of attaining knowledge cultivates an emotionless society where simple ideas are black and white, which ultimately eliminate question and freedom of thought. This society is infatuated with the TV and their beloved parlor walls; however, these “values” replace the true importance of books, curiosity, and rationalism. Likewise, in “There Will Come Soft Rains”, a falling tree crashes and sets the house ablaze and causes the once flawless structure to react senselessly in panic: “The house lights flashed, water pumps shot water from the ceilings. . .while the voices took it up in chorus: ‘Fire, fire, fire!’ The house tried to save itself” (Bradbury, “There Will” 91). A system that once operated seamlessly without error has been matched with its absolute disaster, nature. The house frantically alerts and transitions into a hysteria, mindlessly malfunctioning and uselessly defending itself. This failure proves how
Through both stories, Bradbury conveys the idea that humans are capable of destroying themselves as a race, but through management of technology and utilization of knowledge, they can also resurrect and learn from their mistakes.
The idea of an orderly society or system is apparent in both Fahrenheit 451 and “There Will Come Soft Rains”, as the execution of achieving this goal is similarly modern and mechanical. In Fahrenheit 451, after Montag is declared as a criminal outlaw, a ubiquitous announcement lights up the TV set: “‘--Mechanical Hound never fails. . .Tonight, this network is proud to have the opportunity to follow the Hound by camera helicopter as it starts on its way to …show more content…
Just like in any other society, kids go to school, but, in Fahrenheit 451, they are taught by watching TV: “‘An hour of TV class, an hour of basketball or baseball or running, another hour of transcription history or painting pictures, and more sports, but do you know we never ask questions, or at least most don’t’” (Bradbury, Fahrenheit 29). This obscure way of attaining knowledge cultivates an emotionless society where simple ideas are black and white, which ultimately eliminate question and freedom of thought. This society is infatuated with the TV and their beloved parlor walls; however, these “values” replace the true importance of books, curiosity, and rationalism. Likewise, in “There Will Come Soft Rains”, a falling tree crashes and sets the house ablaze and causes the once flawless structure to react senselessly in panic: “The house lights flashed, water pumps shot water from the ceilings. . .while the voices took it up in chorus: ‘Fire, fire, fire!’ The house tried to save itself” (Bradbury, “There Will” 91). A system that once operated seamlessly without error has been matched with its absolute disaster, nature. The house frantically alerts and transitions into a hysteria, mindlessly malfunctioning and uselessly defending itself. This failure proves how