|
1) The emptiness of modern mass culture
People are kept from thinking by the prohibition of books and stupid TV programmes. Even newspapers are made like comic books. There is not much communication between persons and if, it is very superficial. Nobody is interested in problems of others and can expect that others understand his problems. If one is despaired, he does not get any help apart from sleeping pills.
2) The prohibition of books
Books are forbidden because they obviously make people unhappy. Beatty says that the people in those never really lived and - even worse - all philosopher\'s works are contradictionary and therefore there is no use reading them. This is even drummed into the small children\'s heads. Probably the real reason for the prohibition is that the
Government wants to keep the people naive and superficial because they want to rule absolutely and uncontested.
3) The fate of \"thinking\" people
If anybody is different from the others, he quickly becomes an outsider. For example Clarisse: she isn\'t at all interested in the \"family\" but in her environment. She is the only one to realize the insignificant incidents in nature which makes her unpopular with other people. She probably became a teacher because she wants the children to think different from their parents who have become zombies - only thinking about their well-being and their entertainment. Because the pupils use to have fun in her lessons, she is dismissed from her job.
4) Montag\'s change of mentality
At first, Montag is very content with his job. He doesn't know anything better. Nobody has taught him to think about his life until he meets Clarisse who asks him if he is happy. Because he becomes interested in what makes people read books though it is so dangerous and though it is said to make one unhappy, he starts reading \"David Copperfield\" by Charles Dickens. He is so keen on books that he spends every spare minute reading.
|
