A.) The lack of personal attachment to anything in this novel was both shocking and sad. Love and affection were completely replaced with sheer entertainment and all problems were ignored or swept under the rug. Montag and Mildred's relationship, for example, was absolutely horrible and yet Mildred carried on totally denying that she had a problem. When she attempts suicide, which happens several times, she acts as if it never occured and will not admit how miserable she truly is. Society is candy-coated and all of its dilemmas and unhappiness are glossed over with material possessions. Mildred would much rather continue living with Montag pretending they are a happy couple and watching her television programs while deep-down she is obviously extremely unhappy.
Beatty says at one point not to face a problem, to burn it. This policy is precisely what the whole community is living by: don't waste your time trying to work things out, ignore them or simply get rid of them. This futuristic world is marked by ignorance and lack of patience. People just do not want to deal with problems, everything must be solved quickly and easily. Beatty's words come back to haunt him when he is killed by Montag because Montag had a choice: face a problem or burn it, and he took Beatty's prior advice. This represented how eventually, when push comes to shove, ignoring everything and pretending it's all ok will just intensify the problem until it explodes. Beatty ironically ends up dying in accordance with his own policy of problem-solving.
B.) When I first read the back cover of Farenheit 451 I automatically assumed that I would find it boring but I ended up really liking it because it wasn't the typical futuristic/space-craft novel I expected. It was futuristic while not incorporating a ridiculous amount of new technology and getting too much into the technological aspect.
I found it interesting how detached society was due to the people's care only for entertainment. It was depressing how far removed they were from any emotion, there was no real love present, even between the married couples. Hardly anyone actually talked to each other; everything was run by TV or radio. I couldn't even imagine how scary a world like that would be today, but with so many new inventions and a sharp decrease in the need to communicate (via email, instant messaging, texting, etc.), it is not too far off from something that could occur. I took the novel as almost a warning from Bradbury of what could occur if we continue to decrease our need to communicate; his society was like an exaggerated version of what could possibly come.
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I agree with you that we are not too far away from becoming totally dependent on technology to trigger emotions rather than other humans. Instead of sitting down to have a nice chat with a relative, we are more satisfied with plopping in front of the TV and watching our favorite show. Sure we will have that instant gratification, but in the long run, we will grow further apart from our family, just as the characters in Fahrenheit 451.
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