Breaking the Chains of Technology: Reclaiming Humanity in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451

Abstract

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a seminal work that critiques the dangers of technological innovation when it is used to suppress individuality and intellectual freedom. This paper examines the multifaceted role of technology in the novel, highlighting its capacity to stifle intellectual freedom, isolate individuals through communication technologies, and implement invasive surveillance. Bradbury presents a society captivated by technological progress, which ultimately fosters disconnection and passive conformity. This critique, written in 1953 during the rise of television and Cold War anxieties, resonates today as technologies increasingly permeate daily life. Through vivid imagery, Bradbury emphasises the illusory nature of technological progress, contrasting it with the human need for meaningful connections and intellectual resistance. The paper concludes by exploring resistance as a hopeful assertion of human agency against technological hegemony.