Ray Bradbury and Kurt Wimmer highlight the use of female figures to show society’s truth and Kurt Vonnegut portrays that the overuse of technology can lead to a robotic society. In Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse is a significant influence on Montag and makes him realize that books are important in the world. Similarly, in Equilibrium, Mary shows John the feeling of love and makes him realize that society needs to feel emotions. In EPICAC, the author shows that people are connected to technology without even realizing it. The use of technology controls human actions creating a robotic society, and feminine influence helps reveal the truth about society living a robotic life.
Clarisse and Mary are similar characters because they reveal the truth about society and their actions result in Montag and Cleric John coming to a realization. Clarisse in Fahrenheit 451 is one person in society to recognize the truth and grasp reality, she thinks about things and is not rushed like everyone else. One night after Montag leaves work, he meets Clarisse on the walk home. She talks to him and before she leaves, she asks him 'Are you happy?' and that changes him. Clarisse shows Montag that he is not happy, and people are making him think he is. Clarisse makes him see the oppression and control the government has over him and everybody else in society. She shows him what it is like to think for himself, and not the way others want him to think. After Montag meets Clarisse, he begins to recognize that the world is incomplete without books. Clarisse makes Montag realize that he is living a lie and that he is not happy, which leads to him questioning why he burns books and taking action. In addition, Montag meets the anonymous woman who burned herself in a fire with her books, he starts to question why he does what he does. He says, “There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing”(Bradbury 64). Montag figures out that there must be something of value in books to cause someone to make such a sacrifice, which leads to him discovering the truth about society living a robotic life. Mary in Equilibrium is a sense offender who feels emotions when no one else does. While carrying out his daily tasks John accidentally breaks a vial of his day’s dose of Prozium which is a psychotropic substance that suppresses emotions and promotes subservience. This causes John to experience a brief but powerful surges of emotions and memories suppressed by the medication. When John is interrogating Mary for being a sense offender, she asks him “why are you alive?” By doing this, Mary makes John feel emotions like love, anger, confusion and he realizes the truth, that society needs to feel. She makes him understand how important it is to be able to feel emotions and experience the freedom it brings. This leads him to taking action by taking out the founder and freeing everyone of their emotions. Clarisse and Mary represent hope in society and become inspirational figures for Montag and John. Without these women, society would be robotic, have no emotions, and not realize the truth.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
In EPICAC, people are more technology-based and technology is more human. The main character uses EPICAC, a computer machine to make Pat, the woman he loves fall in love with him. This shows that people are so connected to technology that they can not solve their problems themselves. They use machines to solve all their problems, hoping they will go away. On the other hand, EPICAC just wants to be human, not a machine. The main character says, 'You can call him a machine if you want to. He looked like a machine, but he was a lot less like a machine than plenty of people I could name'(Vonnegut). The main character is implying that EPICAC has more emotions and is more understanding than society. EPICAC does not want to think about war, he wants to love and feel emotions like humans do. He short circuits himself because he knew that machines can never be human and feel emotions. Similarly, in Fahrenheit 451 Mildred, Montag's wife is more technology-based than human-based. Mildred always watches television in the parlor and calls the people on the tv her “family”, distancing herself away from real emotion. She replaces technology as her actual family and is a person that values technology and entertainment over her own life. This leads to Mildred and the rest of society being so robotic and having robotic actions.
Therefore, by demonetizing emotions, society disconnects from themselves and has robotic actions. The use of technology affects society, turning them robotic and technology is becoming more human because society is trying to make them think more like them. This reveals that human nature can be divorced from society and technology.
Stuck on your essay?
