In society today, nearly everyone has a cell phone or has access to the internet in one way or another. People are constantly using technology and always connected. While this connection is quite helpful for many things, the people in a society must also be careful not to let technology control them and take away their humanity. In Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 and short stories The Smile, The Pedestrian, and August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains, he addresses a central message to society. He warns that, while the technology itself is not necessarily evil, it is and will be if humans continue to abuse it and allow it to compromise their personal humanity and the condition of humanity as a whole.
Fahrenheit 451 is a Ray Bradbury novel that is set in a future America where …show more content…
Guy Montag, the protagonist and a fireman, has gone through his life so far not really questioning why they burn books, or why the only thing that some people, including his wife, want to do is watch television, because that is the only way he knows. However, that changes when a teenage girl, Clarisse, and her family move in next door. Clarisse tells Montag that she “rarely [watches] the ‘parlor walls’ or [goes] to races or Fun Parks” (9) and instead likes to sit around and talk with her family. Montag looks confused so she explains that sitting and talking is “like being a pedestrian, only rarer” (9). Clarisse says she also likes to go for walks and taste the rain and she encourages Montag to try those things as well. Montag is hesitant at first, but then he decides to taste the rain and take time to look at the world around him while he
Fahrenheit 451 is a Ray Bradbury novel that is set in a future America where …show more content…
Guy Montag, the protagonist and a fireman, has gone through his life so far not really questioning why they burn books, or why the only thing that some people, including his wife, want to do is watch television, because that is the only way he knows. However, that changes when a teenage girl, Clarisse, and her family move in next door. Clarisse tells Montag that she “rarely [watches] the ‘parlor walls’ or [goes] to races or Fun Parks” (9) and instead likes to sit around and talk with her family. Montag looks confused so she explains that sitting and talking is “like being a pedestrian, only rarer” (9). Clarisse says she also likes to go for walks and taste the rain and she encourages Montag to try those things as well. Montag is hesitant at first, but then he decides to taste the rain and take time to look at the world around him while he