The future is a vastness which intrigues many minds, while others it inspires. For Ray Bradbury, his interesting views of the future are represented in the novel Fahrenheit 451.Through his new creations and technologies, Bradbury brings up startling events that the future may hold: the destruction of all books. Bradbury uses his book as a warning to the current level of society, in which he warns the world through his impressive technologies and many ironic similarities.
The warning of this novel may seem obvious to be the warning of technology's extremely rapid advancement, but there is much more to this caution. Through technology, the society grows callous to knowledge and becomes "fast and efficient." This efficiency leaves little to chance causing the world to become a type of machine. The people leave the knowledge of books behind, and with it much of the physical world including nature and art. All of Bradbury's warnings come through in plain words and subtly ironies.
As in the present condition of the world, television consumes much of the public's time and thoughts. Similarly, Bradbury's world is even more so consumed with the television center, or the "parlor." Within the parlor people spend their lives believing they are with real people, when they are in actuality being spoon-fed media propaganda and advertisements. This parlor is a way of empowering the government to make the populous happy and controllable. This is an extreme of the society of today, but is a warning of what is to come if it continues on this path. Also, there is a small history of the progression of books being turned into condensed books and then small summarizing paragraphs. This warning pokes fun at Reader's Digest condensed novels, thus being another warning of what may happen in this current path.
There is more to this novel than meets the eye. Much of the irony of the novel comes from the similarities of the present time, but in its own time there are more ironies.
