Laying my eyes on the first few pages, I laughed at the thought that the kind of world exhibited in this book is possible. Overall, this book just does its part as a warning, not a definite prediction. Nevertheless, as my reading perpetuates through the following pages, the resemblance that our world bears with Montag’s world presents itself. It was in 1950 when Ray Bradbury commenced the book, it was in 1953 when the book was officially published and it is 2022 when I am writing this. Can it be that the world, that Bradbury thought of under the basement of his university, is gradually assimilating into our reality?

“I’m afraid of children my own age. They kill each other… Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone” - Clarisse

Ring some bells. Yes. Guns. School. People die. Our new normalcy. 

The reality in which we hold our role as creators has witnessed a multitude of horrendous school shootings which robbed away so many lives that were once imbued with hopes for the future. It is an iniquitous acceptance that school shootings do not become such a shock every time it occurs anymore. What we are experiencing is the same picture that a fictional character Clarisse portrayed in her world, a world that Bradbury built with his “What if’s”. 

“I don’t think it’s social to get a bunch of people together and then not let them talk, do you?” - Clarisse

Clarisse’s world’s conventional definition of social is a shortage of conversation. Luckily, according to the Cambridge dictionary, our world still officially defines “social” as an adjective "relating to activities in which you meet and spend time with other people and that happen during the time when you are not working”. However, it does not expunge the crystal clear fact that with the insurgence of advanced technology, screen time undergoes an unprecedented increase. It is not an uncommon phenomenon that people, especially, children of this generation would spend more time scrolling through social media and texting rather than actually having face-to-face interactions. Even the Seashell that Mildred occasionally equips in her ears to hear the news, the entertainment, to help her sleep at night, to block every silence, bears similarity with the headphones, the earphones, specifically the Airpods in our day and age. The moment Mildred dismounts from the car, the moment Mildred’s feet touch the ground, she immediately puts on her Seashell to insulate herself from any chance of immersing in silence, of giving thoughts the chance to infiltrate her mind. 

It is undeniable that a part of Bradbury’s reverie is no longer just reverie. Would you imagine if one day the possession of a printed book would be a heinous crime?