October 14, 2004
yet another old honours english essay – F451 vs BW
In the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury and the poem “Bus Window” by Andrew Pope, there are many connections. One common theme is that people speed through life much too quickly and miss important details, therefore they don’t care about other people’s lives. A second them that the book and the poem have in common is that television is a very powerfully isolating object. The third similarity the two writings share is that people are shown as isolated or lonely.
Both Fahrenheit 451 and “Bus Window” show that people go through life much too quickly and miss details. The people decide to go through life quickly, either zooming about the countryside to get away from it all, or “going sixty” as in the poem “Bus Window,” missing details about other people’s lives. In “Bus Window,” Andrew Pope’s subject cannot distinguish if the boy is showing affection or anger toward the brown dog. This is because he is too preoccupied with his own life to slow down and notice others. This compares to Fahrenheit 451 in the ways that all of the people Montag interacts with are speeding through life, whether it is driving their fast cars or wanting this day to hurry and end so they can get to the good part of life; either in a few days or weeks or months. Ultimately, they end up with a wasted life that they have rushed through too quickly to enjoy. Also in the poem, “doing sixty” refers to a vehicle going to quickly to notice an important detail about the brown dog. In Fahrenheit 451, the fire truck is going too quickly and Stoneman misses the turn to the firehouse, because he and Beatty are preoccupied with watching the road disappearing under the fire truck wheels. This shows how people are too involved with their own lives and vehicles to see detail of other people’s lives and what they are doing.
Fahrenheit 451 and “Bus Window” both display television as on object of isolation and loneliness. In “Bus Window,” the television separates the family from their child because they are too absorbed in their television program; so they either don’t notice or care that their little boy is on the porch outside with the dog while they are eating dinner. Television is portrayed as isolating in Fahrenheit 451 with the example of Mildred and her watching of the parlor walls, so she doesn’t even know what is going on in her husband’s life or even who he is. Mildred’s obsession with her “family” on the parlor walls is very unhealthy, for both her and Montag, in the ways that first of all, when Montag comes home from work, Mildred has to ask who is there. This suggests that Mildred’s TV. addiction has her so involved in the lives of people that she doesn’t even know that if the person coming in her room is her husband or someone else, possibly her “family” from the parlor walls. This detachment from reality brought on from television shows that TV. is unhealthy and hurtful to relationships. We also see this confirmed in “Bus Window,” with the family absorbed in their television during dinner. Another example Fahrenheit 451 gives for evidence that television is damaging is how it gets Mildred so unconcerned with her own life that she falls into a lack of interest in her general health, overdoses on sleeping pills, her stomach is pumped, and when Montag tells her this she doesn’t believe him. This proves that television is not only harmful to personal relationships but also to personal health.
“Bus Window” and Fahrenheit 451 have a similarity of isolation or loneliness. These emotions are shown through imagery in the poem, with the lone aluminum house, the family eating dinner with the TV on, and going sixty. In Fahrenheit 451, these ideas are conveyed in the format of a story, with ideas of Montag and Mildred with individual beds, Mildred’s sick obsession with her “family” on the parlor walls, and Montag saying “it’s just I haven’t had time —“ to smell the leaves or taste the rain. The image of the aluminum house and the fact that Mildred and Montag don’t even share a bed show the emotion of isolation. The lone aluminum house reminds us of coldness, aloneness. The fact that Montag and Mildred have separate beds also conveys the idea of loneliness. Another similar detail is the talk of TV’s. In “Bus Window,” the TV is being watched during dinner, which for most people is family time. In Fahrenheit 451, Mildred substitutes her parlor walls for a family instead of talking with her husband. This shows how television is a destructive hurtful thing, and even if the whole family watches, it still doesn’t connect them, even if they all watch together. For Mildred, it hurts her by instead of connecting with Montag, it separates them even more. She doesn’t talk to her husband; she talks to the parlor walls. So TV isn’t really a family thing or even used to connecting people. It is too easy to get detached from reality and absorbed in TV to stay connected with real people. Finally, the idea of going sixty in “Bus Window” and the destructive habits of Montag’s world are related in the ways that they are both quick. Speeding through life too hurried to notice details and the fine print. Going sixty, it is hard to define whether the boy on the porch is petting or beating his brown dog. In Fahrenheit 451, the billboards are 200 feet long to accommodate for the people flying by in their fast cars, but still able to see the advertisements. Montag was talking to Clarisse and he has never smelled the leaves because that would take time, which isn’t allowed. “Bus Window” shows how no one has time to even care about each other, while Fahrenheit 451 tells how no one in Montag’s world has time to smell the leaves or connect with people, because that would take too much extra time.
There are many similarities theme-wise between Fahrenheit 451 and the poem “Bus Window.” These common themes show that even though these pieces of literature are very different in style they share the same ideas. These ideas of people going through life too quickly, the harmful effects of television, and that people are often isolated or lonely are all supported in the poem and the book, and many connections were made throughout each.
After reading this to post it in 2026, i would have edited this differently.
And now that i am a grown-up, i am able to do that!
Stay tuned for a later date’s re-rendition of this essay, and to do it justice i will wait until i’ve had a fresh read of F451
catch y’all on the flipside!!
<3
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