I am doing a collage about Fahrenheit 451 and basically we have to make a collage with chunks of writing about quotes that relates back to our proposal. Would It be okay if someone looked at it?
Proposal: I am interested in how the government doesn’t want people in the society to have freedom by reading books because if books are banned, they lack of knowledge which cause them to not have any opinions. Also the government does not allow people to have any choices. When someone has freedom, they have choices but in Fahrenheit 451, the people must follow laws. But they aren’t any ordinary Laws that are reasonable for the society. They are brainwashed with technology and “fun”. Which makes me wonder how can choices affect the society? My hunch about this is that people in Fahrenheit 451 are not allowed to be any different since they don’t have freedom because if they do have freedom, people gain knowledge and that leads to opinions and the government does not want that to cause any world issues.
Collage that I have so far:
"My uncle drove slowly on a highway once. He drove forty miles an hour and they jailed him for two days." (Bradbury 6)
Clarisse tells Montag about her "strange" family like her uncle. Before this quote, Clarisse was talking about how people speeds and they don't get the chance to really look at something so they get a glance of a color. After that, Montag basically called her crazy and told her that she thinks too much. This text connects to the fact that the government in Montag's society doesn't allow any freedom because Clarisse's uncle was stopped for doing something he was not supposed to do and actually drive by slowly than the "normal" speed to see what the color people see, is. There should be a choice where people want to speed or not speed but in their society, that's illegal. I feel like Bradbury wrote this in a literary and figurative way. Literary because he was speeding slowly to see the colors of the object people couldn't really sort out. Figurative since the fact that people are speeding, they are avoiding colors which could represent them not thinking. Therefore, if someone does not speed, just like Clarisse's uncle, then they actually do think which the government does not want and that is why he got arrested. This shows just how shallow Montag's society has become.
"When it comes for the missing lines, they all look at me out of the three wall and I say the lines. Here, for instance, the man says, 'what do you think of the whole idea, Helen?' and he looks at me sitting here center stage, see? 'And I say, I say- 'she paused and ran her finger under a line on a script. 'I think that's fine'." (Bradbury 17-18)
The reason why I chose this quote is because the parlor walls given by the government is brainwashing Mildred into thinking that everything is fine. In this scenario, Mildred has to speak for the missing lines in this play and she was given the script to basically keep saying that 'it's fine' or 'I agree'. She doesn't even have the choice to think herself and respond with her opinion that should be added in the play. She is not given a choice but given just a script she must follow. She has no freedom.
“ I'm antisocial, they say. I don't mix. It's so strange. I'm very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn't it? Social to me means talking to you about things like this.” (Bradbury 26)
Montag asked Clarisse why she was not at school but Clarisse feels like the outcast from everyone which the government does not want. They want everyone in society to be the exact same. CLarisse interprets “social” as talking and interacting. On the other hand, the government and society sees the word “social”as interacting with the parlor walls or like how clarisse says “ [g]et a bunch of people and then not let them talk.” (Bradbury 27) this proves how everyone doesn’t have the choice to socialize because then you will be different and if you interact, you have to think. Like when Clarisse and Montag interacts, he has to think about what Clarisse says about his happiness. Basically Clarisse tries to show Montag that thinking could be an option but the government just forbids that.
“colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle tom’s cabin. Burn It” (Bradbury 57)
Books are forbidden in the society of Fahrenheit 451. They are known to make people not happy because it offends some people and the government doesn’t want that. But not only they want people to be unhappy, but they don’t want them to think at all. You see, books present us with new ideas and promote free- thinking and the government is afraid that if people have access to knowledge, their different opinions can cause conflict in the world. The government only wants to give people only one choice and basically no freedom so they can all be the same by being brainwashed with “entertainment” and “fun”.
“This machine pumped all the blood from the body and replaced it with fresh blood and serum” (Bradbury 12)
This quote seems to have nothing to do with the fact that the government gives no choices but really, it indirectly does. In this scene, Mildred was overdosing and the technology that the government use is pumping blood with a machine. If you see Mildred as the representation of Fahrenheit 451’s society, everyone who is basically brainwashed do the same things, have no thoughts and pay attention to the parlor walls. Mildred’s life is full of nothing and has no meaning. There are no opinions or thoughts but just full of brainwashed feelings of happiness The government demonstrated how Mildred’s blood was easily replaced with any other blood. Everyone’s soul like Mildred is empty just like the whole society.
I think you're doing very well with this! Might I suggest that it's not so much conflict in the world that the government wants to avoid as it is conflict WITH THE GOVERNMENT. If people actually knew what their government was doing and thought about it enough to ask questions or disagree, it might impinge on the government's power over the people, to make war, etc. The uncle who was arrested for driving too slowly might actually see, not so much the color of something, but what it actually was instead of just the blur that can be grasped at high speed. I think the color is a metaphor for reality. Think along those lines. You're 90% there! Good work.
It's great that you're working on a collage about Fahrenheit 451 and its themes. It seems like you have already selected some quotes that relate to your proposal about the lack of freedom and choices in the society depicted in the novel.
As for your question about someone looking at your collage, unfortunately, as an AI text-based bot, I cannot physically see or critique visual work. However, if you have any specific questions or need assistance with analyzing the quotes or expanding on your ideas, I can definitely help!
From what you've shared, it seems like you have already provided some analysis and explanations for each quote. You have connected the quotes to your proposal and given insights into how they reflect the lack of choices and freedom in the society of Fahrenheit 451.
If you need any specific suggestions or further explanations for your proposed quotes, feel free to ask!