Obedience: Creating the Ideal World

Annie Ma

Prof. Meritz

WRC I 1013.038

20th September 2013

Obedience: Creating the Ideal World

In the society of Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag was what one would consider an ideal citizen of society. Having a lovely wife and the perfect job, he never questioned his life nor did he question his way of living. Like many of the people in the modern society, he conformed to its rules and its norms because it was the only thing he knew how to do. On a particular fall evening on his way home from work, he met a girl named Clarisse McClellan. A freethinker and a nonconformist, Clarisse’s approach towards the concept of thought as well as life was completely foreign to Montag. When she asked him if he was truly happy, Montag began to truly question his own happiness. Since then, meeting her became something he looked forward to in his daily routine. As sudden as Clarisse had appeared in his life, she disappeared just as quickly. Having not seen Clarisse for several days, Montag questioned his wife, Mildred as to whether she had seen Clarisse. Mildred calmly muttered that Clarisse and her family had been killed by a speeding car. Shocked by his wife’s failure to mention this and by Clarisse’s death, it triggered the disobedience in Montag. He began to question his love for his wife, his job, and his society. But above all, he was able to think for himself instead of having his society think for him. Despite the Western belief that each and every one of its citizens is an individual, each person is often obedient towards an external force, which can affect their way of thinking as well as their decision-making.

Books such as Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World reflect the effect obedience has on humans. Fahrenheit 451 starts off in a futuristic city setting. In this world, the government had outlawed books and freethinking. Anyone who owned books would have their houses burned down by these firemen. Anyone whose behavior was deemed unusual was discarded. Brave New World...