Pollution in Fahrenheit 451 Through his virtuous and insightful novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury reveals a world of neglect and one-way thinking we are becoming familiar with.Under the protagonist of this story, Guy Montag, a "fireman" (book burner), Bradbury faces many issues affecting our own time. As we see Montag realize the insanity of his own society, he tries to solve a problem facing in the whole world.Bradbury's style how been thought about in this way: "He believes a science fiction is a way to solve a problem in the existing world." (Mergeling, 877). "He refers to himself as an "˜idea writer'" (Unger, 77). Bradbury, a science fiction author, shows us the ways tha ...view middle of the document...
Also, jet bombers were flying by constantly, creating exceptionally loud noises (87). Montag himself could not think aboard a subway due to the blaring radio commercial for "Denham's Dentriface" (78-79). The "Fahrenheit" people themselves chose to constantly be listening. "Mildred had the seashells stuffed in her head", not allowing herself to hear anything else, and she did this quite often. (46). In the car, Mildred drove so fast, that she and her husband could not even carry out a conversation due to the noise pollution (46). The noise pollution was like chains holding down the limbs of the Fahrenheit society, creating people into mindless zombies.After seeing the effects on the Fahrenheit society, one might think that these problems are not seen in our own society today. However, pollution IS a trend in our own society that reflects what is seen throughout this novel. Michael Brown has said "Pollution is becoming more of a problem than ever, effecting everything about the very communities we live in" (Brown, 3). This pollution comes from many different sources. The two main sources are from automobiles and from business (Lucas. 79). Chemical spills are horrible events that are one of the most deadly forms of pollution. In 1991, the Exxon Valdez spilled millions of gallons of oil into the waters of Alaska, killing off millions of fish and seriously effecting the habitat there (DuTemple, 25). Times Beach, Missouri, has been abandon since 1983 due to a spill releasing dioxides, lethal to all forms of life (MacEachern, 302). More chemical spills are happening now than ever before (Amdur, 51). Pollution is effecting people as well. Agent Orange, used in Vietnam, was a chemical that has caused soldiers memory loss, cancer, and skin rashes (Brown, 116). Eileen Lucas suggests that the risk of people in heavily polluted areas getting cancer from that exceeds one on ten thousand. For these reasons, pollution is bringing down our own society today.Pollution is growing at a rapid rate due to business. The leading sources are manufacturing plants and energy plants. "General Electric is responsible for the aggregate release of more toxic chemicals than any other company in the electrical industry" (Lucas, 60). Sixty three percent of air cancer risks come from chemical producing manufacturers (Lucas, 211.) The manufacturing of business forms risks also. In 1989, 600 billion pounds of synthetic chemicals were produced (Brown, 213). These chemicals create risks...
