If you think that Ray Bradbury spends a lot
of time contradicting himself, you'd be right.
That's because one of Bradbury's motifs is
paradoxes.
Here's the thing about the society in Fahrenheit
451: What's going on on the surface doesn't
match what's going on beneath the surface.
Like the people Montag comes into contact
with.
They may seem like they're living, but they're
soulless—they're spiritually and emotionally
dead.
And Bradbury uses the motif of paradoxes to
get at this contradiction.
For example, Montag's wife, Mildred, is often
described as both there and not there.
In other words, she's physically in Montag's
presence, but her thoughts are elsewhere.
Mildred and Montag may talk, but she can't
emotionally connect.
Mildred is also described as dead and alive—almost
as though she's a machine.
She thinks (because her brain is functioning),
but yet she doesn't really think.
She's alive (because her heart is pumping),
but she's not engaged with the world in any
kind of meaningful way.
Ultimately, these paradoxes and others are
a constant reminder of the unsubstantiality
and unreality (masquerading as substantiality
and reality) that both Montag—and his author—are
fighting against.
