Fahrenheit 451: Question 8

            Fahrenheit 451 is set in futuristic United States, so it does not reflect events that took place in history, but foreshadows things that may take place in the future.  It is never clearly stated said hat time period the novel takes place in, but we know it is sometime in the future. Ray Bradbury believes that the relationships between workers and bosses should be full of respect. We see during the novel that Guy Montag treats his boss, Beatty, with great respect and kindness. He does not smart back to him, and he does not try to correct him or doubt him. When the firemen are called to the elderly women’s house, Beatty insists on burning the women alive. Instead of trying to stop him and he asks if he can change her mind and tries, but ends up failing (Bradbury 40-42). He obviously shows respect to Beatty even though he knows and believes he is very wrong to burn the books and the woman.

            Another relationship that Bradbury describes is the relationship between husband and wife. What it seems to me is that the wife stays home and the husband goes out and works. I am not absolutely sure if this is the case with everyone, but there are no female firefighters and Mildred did not go to work. There are never any points made about it in the book, but we can infer from the conversations in the book. Mildred asks permission before doing things such as the television wall, where now a woman could make that decision on her own without having to have a man tell her yes or no (Bradbury 20). They treat each other as though the man has more of the authority, although Montag is a bit of a pushover.

            I believe that Bradbury wrote the relationships like he did because in 1953, when he wrote it, this was how many relationships were. We still have respect for our bosses, but the male and female roles have drastically evened out since then.

 Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.