Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Realization Of Problems In Society

Issues addressed by science fiction texts are not at all different to the issues we face in society today and serve as a catalyst for the realisation of problems in our society. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Andrew Niccols Gattaca tackle issues that have been enhanced by the evolution of society including the increase in collectivised views as well as the diminishing power that we hold over the technology we are creating. Gattaca presents this through a world in which social status is dictated by genetics. Meanwhile Fahrenheit presents its values through the power of media dictation. The two texts create a mirror of our society in a separate universe to criticise our ideologies and values without causing controversy while being able to also highlight their long term effects. The devaluation of the concept of individualism is prominent …show more content…
Gattaca and Fahrenheit use technology as a dividing force that creates fear in promotion of conformity to society’s idealistic values. Fahrenheit 451 uses a mechanical hound, a machine constructed to hunt down citizens who have broken the law by collecting books or committing any other acts of treason. The fear of the mechanical hound is what provokes fear into the idea of not conforming to the collectivist ways of the dystopian society portrayed in the novel. When Montag is being chaced by the hound it is broadcast to the parlor walls of everyone in the city to be a reminder of the power held by the firehouses but when the hound loses Montag it chooses rather to target a innocent victim rather that show that it had failed which would be a sign of weakness. This shows the harsh realities of the technology we create, being that it does not make our world safer but instead more hostile and unsafe than