Paul Cataldi
Mr. Manwell
H. English 2/Period 6
8/28/14
AMDG
Themes of Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451 Throughout the novel, one of the main themes is the consequences and dangers to society of censorship. In the novel Ray Bradbury portrays the citizens of this dystopian society as a people craving mindless entertainment and what they perceive as happiness. They are so used to watching television in their parlors that the idea of reading book is repulsive to them, as demonstrated by Mrs. Bowles and her disgusted reaction to Montag reading her a poem. This censorship destroyed people individuality by taking away the need to actually think, analyze, and dive deeper into things. Instead they were used to the shallow, mindless entertainment of…show more content… In this society people’s lives were based upon watching television in their parlor, seeking thrills by racing their cars, and a yearning for happiness and false sense of security and stability. Most people conformed to this mindset giving up their individuality to live an easy, mindless, and conflict-free life. For some people, including Guy Montag and Beatty, there was a struggle inside them about whether to conform to the mindless ways of society, or to be their own person and seek knowledge and an understanding of the world around them. In Beatty’s case the ease of conformity to the common mindset won out because it was an easier, less risky way of living. Montag struggled multiple times with this, and while he eventually chose to be an individual and not conform to society, he considered multiple times just giving up and going back to his old ways of being a mindless fireman. This struggle was so difficult because those who were perceived as individuals and chose not to conform to the government, were seen as threats, hence the reason for creations like the hound. Overall while conformity was an easy way to go through life, there were some people who chose to be their own person and struggle through life in order to be an