Selfishness In Fahrenheit 451

“There is a sufficiency in the world for a man’s need, but not a man’s greed.” - Mahatma Gandhi. In the world, one’s greed will never be satisfied and leads to extreme selfishness. Not only is this true in the world, but it is also true when speaking about a dystopian story with a corrupt government. In the book, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury writes about how Mildred, the government and society and Montag are all examples of selfishness.
Ray Bradbury first describes how Mildred is selfish in the book. After Mildred wakes up after taking all of her pills, she talks to Guy about the show she is watching and about the TV. Bradbury writes, “‘How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall-TV put in? It’s only two thousand dollars.’ ‘That’s one-third of my yearly pay.’” (Bradbury, pg. 18)The quote explains how Mildred wants another TV, and doesn’t seem to care much about the amount of money it costs. This can demonstrate selfishness because Mildred has no consideration for Guy or how hard he may work for his money. Not only is Mildred selfish when it comes to money, but also when it comes to other people. When Guy came home from work one day, Mildred was not very empathetic. The book states, “‘Aren’t you going to ask me about last night?’ he said. ‘What about it?’ ‘We burned a thousand books. We burned a woman.’ ‘Well?’” (Bradbury, pg. 47) The excerpt explains how Mildred doesn’t have a care in the world about the woman …show more content…
First, Mildred was inconsiderate over the topics of money, hard situations and her husband. Also, society and the government were self-centered when it came to rules, education and technology. Finally, one saw that Montag was selfish because of illegal situations, and his wife. Although selfishness may help oneself more than others in their surroundings, it almost always more beneficial to help others in