5) How does this novel reflect the history, behavior and social issues of the time period and setting? What is this book's symbolic and thematic significance?
The time period that Bradbury has created could not be easier to analyze. The fact of the matter is, in a world where no one really thinks, no one has the ability to create an issue. There quite simply are no real issues. There are hidden, unobserved issues, which is where the whole story comes from. Behavioral issues, on the other hand were all over the place. Suicide is found left and right. No one values anyone else's lives, or even their own, for that matter. As Clarisse shows, the world they live in is filled with violence and instability (Bradbury 30). Her classmates kill each other, and no one gives it a second thought!
People need to think about what is happening around them. If we cannot think for ourselves, how are we expected to function? The thought of having no thought makes me sick! In order to form our own opinions, we must have the option to disagree. The world is being run in the wrong way through this book. The fact that people are so ridiculously unhappy that they just kill themselves on random occasion shows that something is up. Millie attempts suicide, and wakes up the next day as if it never happened (Bradbury 13). The people who came to help her say that those sort of "problems" come ten times a night (Bradbury 15). Obviously there is something up. Ten suicide attempts each night in one area? That is just not right.
Another thing that stood out to me was the fact the people hate their own children. A friend of Mildred's talks about how she is happy that her kids are gone (Bradbury 99). What kind of messed up place is this where everyone despises their kids and cannot wait for them to leave for nine days out of ten at a time? I truly do not understand how a bond does not exist between mother and child. Reading passages like that made me sick, and I was so glad that Montag felt that same way. He knew that things like that were completely and totally wrong.
I noticed symbolism in two instances through the book. One was in the technology used. Often the technology was compared to small creepy animals and insects (Bradbury 55, 72, 73, 101). The earphones were compared to a praying mantis, and the stomach pump was compared to a snake, even the hound is like a spider with it's eight legs. I found this interesting because things like this are almost like parasites, and technology is like a parasite in Bradbury's eyes. I could be thinking too much into it, but I feel like that is a valid comparison. And the other symbolic reference I came up with was when the city was exploded/when Montag cleansed himself in the stream (Bradbury 189). It was almost as if Montag's slate was being cleaned, and everything that happened ended instantly.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1954
No comments:
Post a Comment