lar to Fahrenheit 451, televisions, or in this case, “telescreens” are very prevalent. In almost every scene, the telescreen is watching the citizens, giving war news, airing political speeches, or broadcasting messages from Big Brother. These screens have such a hypnotic effect on the populace that even after the images fade, they seem to “persist for several seconds on the screen, as though the impact that [they make] on everyone’s eyeballs [are] too vivid to wearoff immediately.” (Orwell, 1949) Other reminders of Big Brother’s omnipresence are posters plastered on every wall that bear the his glaring face accompanied by the slogan “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell, 1949). Unlike Bradbury’s dystopia, Orwell’s is extremely disparate from today’s world. While Bradbury uses his setting to serve as a warning, Orwell’s is like a threat, purposely causing the reader to feel dread. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag starts off just like everyone else in Bradbury’s world – a brainwashed zombie under the control of the government. He spends his life as a fireman burning all the books that can be found and never questioning his role in life. He thinks “little at all about nothing in particular.” (Bradbury, 1953) Although he is content with his life, he is never truly happy with it. His wife sits at home everyday glaring blindly at the wallscreen. In addition, she has to take pills to give her sensations that simple human interaction can supply. Similarly, Montag’s only source of real pleasure is to see things burn. It excites him “to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.” (Bradbury, 1953) Nowhere in his life is there a human source of happiness. Thus, when Clarisse finally asks him if he is happy, it is his emotions, or lack thereof, that causes him to become an individual.Winston Smith is a worker in one ...
