Ray Bradbury’s Predictions in Fahrenheit 451 Essay

As we all know, Ray Bradbury, Author of Fahrenheit 451, made many predictions as to what this day and age would be like. He was right in many cases including speed, entertainment, and the mindlessness of people. He predicted that nobody would speak more than a couple of words at a time to a certain person. That makes the people seem mindless because they don’t talk or ask questions. Ray also predicted that people would drive by places so fast that the y don’t even know what they passed. That has not quite happened in out tome yet, but I believe it is coming. One of the final things that Bradbury talks about in his book is entertainment, slowly but surely, people are starting to stay indoors and do such activities so they don’t have to go outside. Being obsessed with entertainment, which is probably the most obvious aspect of this book, is very important in our world and Montag’s made up society. The characters rarely have friends, and if they do, they just go over each other’s houses to watch television. Bradbury makes this clear when Mildred says to Montag, â€Å"I went to Helen’s last night† (50). He replies by saying, â€Å"Couldn’t you get the shows in your own parlor† (50). She says, â€Å"Sure, but it’s nice visiting† (50). In that statement she clarifies that the only reason she goes over friend’s houses is to watch television, not to talk, eat, or go outside and have a good time. An example of someone who is not obsessed with entertainment is Clarisse, the 17 year old girl who is â€Å"different† from everyone else because she enjoyed life. She enjoyed smelling flowers, walking in the rain, and getting into deep conversations with people. Clarisse thinks that all people ever do is watch the â€Å"Parlor Walls,† go to the races, and amusement parks. Our society is turning out to be like that, we have to stop it before it’s too late. A couple of years ago, family used to go to amusement parks as a treat every once in a while, now a days we have people that go almost every other day. Speed plays a very large role in the book Fahrenheit 451. People in their society were completely obsessed with speed; they increased the size of billboards to two hundred feet long so that the advertisement would last as the people rushed by it. Clarisse says, â€Å"My uncle drove slowly on a highway once; He drove forty miles an hour and they jailed him for two days† (9).  Clarisse also says that if you showed a truck driver a green blur, he will tell you that it’s grass. Second, if you show a truck driver and pink blur, he will tell you that it is a rose garden. Third, if you show a truck driver a white blur, he will say that it is a house. Finally, if you show a truck driver a brown blur, he will tell you that it is a cow. Towards the end of the book, Clarisse was suspected to have been hit by a speeding car and killed. That proves that people don’t slow down for anything and speed is a major part in Montag’s world. In our society, people are starting to get more and more speeding tickets. The police are really cracking down on people going over the speed limit. People are constantly on the move, going fast to get more done. People are now making microwavable dinners, eating on the run, and many are resorting to eating fast food. They know that it is not good for you but they eat it anyway because it is fast, and it keeps them going at the pace, they want to keep their lives going at. Cars these days are getting faster and faster, you pay a little bit more and get a BMW or a Porsche, just to keep up the speed that all of us think we have to stay at. People in both Montag’s society and our society today are very mindless. In Montag’s society, all people do is watching the â€Å"parlor walls.† You are considered odd or weird if you enjoy talking, asking questions, or enjoying things in nature. Clarisse if one of those people that Montag’s society considers to be odd. She loves to ask questions and get into deep conversations with people; in fact her whole family is like that. Even when Montag first meets her, he is very amazed by how â€Å"weird† she is. Guy looks at Clarisse and laughs when she tells him that fireman actually used to stop fires that started by accident. She asks him if he ever reads any of the books that he is told to burn. He turns to her and yells, â€Å"That’s against the law! (8)† That is the point at which Guy really starts to wonder about books and why they are burning them. Mildred is one of the people in the made up world that is very mindless. She  always watches her parlor walls and has friends over to just watch with her, they never talk or anything which proves to me that she is very mindless. In our world, technology is getting to the point where we don’t have to leave our houses very much. That is scary because I am afraid that we are going to turn out just like Bradbury predicted. This story is coming true and there is very few things that we can do about it. Speed, entertainment, and mindlessness of people are starting to come true in our world today. It is surprising that Bradbury could make so many predictions so many years ago and have them be so accurate. Overall Ray Bradbury is a very good author that catches the attention of his readers by telling them what things will be like in the future. I certainly hope that all of these negative things that Bradbury predicted will not become any truer as time progresses.