Blending in or Standing Out

Blending In or Standing Out

        While living in a flawed society full of conformists, there are some people that when given a piece of ruled paper, decide to write the other way. Ray Bradbury displays the theme of conformity verses individuality throughout the novel Fahrenheit 451. Guy Montag, the fireman, is shown as an individual once he transforms from his life as a conformist. In contrast, Beatty, the fire chief, is an individual that is conformed to the societies rules, and is never willing to let anyone see his weaknesses. Finally, Mildred Montag, Guy’s wife, is a true conformist that is stuck in the ways of the society until the very end. There are many types of people living in this society, but firstly the conformists are being shown through the character of Mildred Montag.

        In Fahrenheit 451, there are many conformists that agree with everything that happens and with all of the rules. They consider televised walls to be their family and they are completely oblivious to everything going on around them. When something happens that makes them realize what is going on, it is already too late. Mildred is a conformist and is so stuck in the ways of the society, that she considers the parlor walls to be her family. This is proven when Mildred leaves her house after the firemen arrive and says, “‘[p]oor family, poor family, oh everything gone, everything gone now’” (Bradbury 108). When she says this, it is showing that the walls are all she cares about. She could not care less about what happens to Montag, she is only concerned about what is going to happen to her parlor walls. Also, Mildred has a couple of friends over one night and Montag starts talking to them about their lives and their families. It shows, just like Mildred, how oblivious they are to everything that is going on in their society and even towards the things going on in their own lives. Montag cannot believe how emotionless they are and tells them:

Go home and think of you first husband divorced and you second husband killed in a jet and your third husband blowing his brains out, go home and think of the dozen abortions you’ve had, go home and think of that and your damn caesarian section, too, and your children that hate your guts! Go home and think how it all happened and what did you ever do to stop it? (98).

Montag is realizing how conformed everyone is and he is trying to open their eyes to what is going on. All Mildred and her friends care about is themselves and the parlor walls, not about their children, or their spouses, or anyone else for that matter. Finally, when the parlor wall shuts off for good, Mildred sees herself and realizes how messed up the society really is. As the bomb drops Montag’s thoughts drift towards Mildred, “she [sees] her own face reflected there, in a mirror instead of a crystal ball, and it’s such a wildly empty face, all be itself in the room, touching nothing, starved and eating of itself, that at last she recognize[s] it as her own and looked quickly up at the ceiling as it and the entire structure of the hotel blast[s] down upon her” (153). As the city is being destroyed by an atomic bomb, Mildred’s parlor walls shut off. She finally sees herself through the reflection and realizes how flawed the society is and always has been, but it is too late. Conformity itself is what killed her in the end. Through Mildred, her friends, and how oblivious they are to the flaws in the society, the theme of conformity is being displayed. In contrast to Mildred and the conformists, Beatty enforces a conformed law on people, yet lives his life as an individual.

        Beatty is committed to a conformist life, yet he is still an individual. He spends all of his time enforcing the two-book law, but he still reads books anyways. He ends up paying the ultimate price because he is not willing to go against everything he enforces. First of all, Beatty is the fire captain, which means he is in charge of enforcing the law and he is the one who leads the torching of peoples’ houses. Beatty touches on his power when he says, “‘[a]ny man’s insane who thinks he can fool the government and us’” (31). When he says this he is explaining how he has just as much power as the government does, and that he is all for what they believe in, in regards to the rules about banning books. Furthermore, Beatty is in fact a hypocrite because he believes that it is okay if he reads, but it is not okay if everyone else does. He is an individual because he is going against what the government wants and is making his own rules. It is proven that Beatty reads books when he says, “‘There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, for I am arm[ed] so strong in honesty that they pass by me as an idle wind, which I respect not! How [is] that?’” (113). Here Beatty is quoting Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar”. This proves that he has previously read things such as this, and how he is going against everything that he enforces. In addition, Beatty’s life is all about rules and when Montag is threatening Beatty with the fire hose, Beatty is encouraging him to do it rather than pleading because he would rather his death be as a strong martyr than as a suicidal death, because that would make him look weak. Beatty encourages Montag by saying, “‘[h]ow [is] that? Go ahead now, you second-hand literateur, pull the trigger’” (113). He is mocking Montag because then Montag will be the one to end his life for him and he will die looking strong. This is just as he wants people to see him. Through Beatty, and how he is enforcing the law but not following it himself, it shows how the system is flawed. Finally, Montag, Faber, and an old lady they meet, represent the individuals in Fahrenheit 451.