Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury that regards the societal tendencies of human nature. Written in 1953, Fahrenheit 451 is written to describe a futuristic setting of a society present in the United States. Ray Bradbury extrapolates trends of the American culture industry observable during the 1950s into a post-1990 environment in the execution of this novel. Montag and Mildred are two of the main characters of the novel that serves as direct representations of the surrounding society. Bradbury uses Montag and Mildred to convey a deeper message pertaining to the negative effects of an advancing technological society. Moreover, Bradbury executes the eventual actions and reactions of a dynamic world full of government intervention and domination of the mass media. Because Ray Bradbury predicted the connection between the use of technology and numbing behaviors, he successfully predicts the inevitable replacement of everyday relationships with a virtual reality that wages a new age of social problems in Fahrenheit 451.  

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury predicts society’s use of coping mechanisms when faced with conflict and oppression. Coping mechanisms can be described as strategies that are used as outlets in dealing with stress and pain. In Fahrenheit 451, technology possesses the power to manipulate the rational use of coping mechanisms for the characters. For example, self-driving cars are used as tools of destruction and unfulfilled revenge. In the novel, cars are driven unconventionally at high speeds with the goal of murdering any living object that may be in the way. The citizens of the novel essentially drive like maniacs in using their cars not only for communal transportation but also to seek fulfillment of utter wrath. The characters are ultimately losing their minds as their government continues to oppress their everyday lives. The unhappiness of the “citizens are represented by an emptiness that needs to be filled,” which proves the importance of coping mechanisms to the citizens (Eller 7). In other words, the citizens need coping mechanisms, such as the self-driving cars, screens, and seashells, to deal with the frustrations, they have against their own failing society. Montag once said, “I've got an awful feeling I want to smash things and kill things” (Bradbury 64). In this quote, Montag is stating his desired use of violence with his self-driving car as a way to cope with his anger. Montag represents the accumulated rage of the mass population that is expelled amongst each other through violent means. Moreover, Ray Bradbury utilizes death as a tangible term to prove society’s process of de-sympathizing previously vulnerable concepts. Death is seen to be easily accessible by every one of the human race, and citizens use technology to plot the morbid ending of themselves, others, and animals. Furthermore, Bradbury uses the novel to convey negative effects caused by a society encompassed by technological addiction. Bradbury successfully predicts the theory that “every forward movement in science and technology that improves the physical quality of human life, but there is a potential backward movement in the spiritual quality of human life” (Young 911). Medical technology helps us artificially sustain human life, but medical technology comes with the price of losing the dignity of life itself. As Mildred falls into a cycle of botox and mood drugs, she nearly dies until saved by a high-tech stomach pump. Eventually, her lifestyle of pharmaceutical overdosing caught up to her, yet her death was ultimately caused by the absence of mind and soul. Mildred used medication to numb her insecurities and pains, but Mildred later discovers that numbing behaviors are only a temporary compensation to a society that is forever (Young 912). The society that Bradbury imagined in 1953 is experienced in the reality of today. As the demands of iPhones, Samsungs, and other portable technologies are on the rise so are the demands of society’s need to address the many psychological problems. Frequently, people take to the internet to numb their pains by either tearing down other people or voicing their opinion in written word or video for the cyber world to see. Regardless of the potentially negative psychological effects on others, some people insensibly take to the internet to vocalize their opinions on political or civil rights issues with the intent to promote bigotry and prejudices. Society’s way of managing self-inflicted oppression is seen through technological numbing behaviors that are proved successful by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451.

Secondly, Ray Bradbury predicts the loss of literature and the replacement of everyday relationships with a virtual reality through the lack of self-education and self-awareness that is proven in Fahrenheit 451. In the society of the novel, the government enacts a law that all informative books are prohibited. With an occupation as a fireman, Montag’s job is to travel around and “burn the books with kerosene, then burn the house, and then burn the occupant” (Young 898). The government’s goal is to completely erase all literature from its citizens, so all knowledge will stem from the government itself. By burning the books, the government is revoking the intellectual independence of the citizens and instilling fear amongst citizens by enforcing the penalty of death as a consequence of non-compliance. Apart from this, the government in the novel seems to value ignorance over intelligence because they believe that the citizens will not comprehend the loss of intellectual independence. The government tells Montag he “must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can’t have our minorities upset and stirred” (Bradbury 59). This tactic of the government is to prevent factions and minorities from being incited by provocative ideas present in books. Ray Bradbury uses the burning of books to represent the destruction of the use of literature in the novel. Therefore, Bradbury accurately predicts the decline of informative literature in today’s society. For example, people of today read less traditional paper books and newspapers and have succumbed to digital E-Books and newspapers. Because of digital technology, positive self-education is not always attained in the vast exploration of the internet where truth and misinformation lie. The decline of positive self-education leads to the decline of positive self-awareness of the dignity of human worth. Furthermore, in losing connection to human worth, characters Montag and Mildred end up losing connection with one another, which creates conflict. “Mildred and Montag do not talk much anymore, nor do they seem to touch or connect. Even the memories of their shared life have faded” (Smolla 897). This event from the novel proves that technology has the power to consume the lives of Montag and Mildred by distracting them from each other. Montag and Mildred have screens covering the walls in their house, also known as “The Family.” “The Family” is an interactive screen that allows Mildred to communicate with an unknown virtual source. The interactive screen, “combined with its sheer penetration into every aspect of life, makes it...more prone to overuse or misuse” (Young 79). Mildred talks to these screens all day, which leads to a loss of connection to Montag and the failing society around her. In application, Ray Bradbury’s prediction of an overpowering aspect of digital technology is seen through the social media of today that consumes the everyday lives of people. Everyday people can communicate with each other through social media applications. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are just a few examples of internet plugs that allow users to virtually interact with each other without physical contact. Many people prefer to communicate virtually rather than in person. As seen in Fahrenheit 451, people of today are losing physical connections in their everyday relationships as most of their time is devoted to the virtual reality of social media. Many people would rather talk to Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri than one another, just as Mildred and “The Family." The loss of self-education and self-awareness is caused by the loss of literature, and the depletion of everyday relationships as predicted by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451.

Because Ray Bradbury predicted the connection between the use of technology and numbing behaviors, he successfully predicts the disengagement everyday relationships with a virtual reality that wages a new age of social problems in Fahrenheit 451. Society’s way of managing self-inflicted oppression is seen through technological numbing behaviors that are proved successful by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451. He writes about numbing behaviors as a response to technological coping mechanisms through the use of tangible terms and desensitization. Secondly, Ray Bradbury predicts the loss of literature and the replacement of everyday relationships with a virtual reality through the lack of self-education and self-awareness proven in Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury’s prediction of an overpowering aspect of digital technology is seen through the social media of today that consumes the everyday lives of people. In conclusion, Ray Bradbury uses Fahrenheit 451 to prove a successful prediction of current social issues through his interpretation of the trends stemming from the technological tendencies of human nature.