Fahrenheit 451 and 1984: Connections part 3

The loss of individuality is a prominent theme in both "1984" and "Fahrenheit 451". The reasons why the characters in "1984" lose their individuality is because the greater majority of the characters lose the ability to think for themselves, and they all become patriotic citizens of Oceania. An example of this is when the belief that 2+2=5 is imposed upon Winston, and because of the fear of having to face death if he were not to accept that belief, Winston ends up accepting it, and letting go of his own beliefs. The loss of his individuality also occurs when he lets go of his childhood memories, and accepts the fact that he's simply troubled by "false memories" every time that one of his childhood memories re-surface. These memories, just like one's beliefs make up who one is. They are the formula that create one. But without these things, one is simply an emotionless working machine, which is exactly what Winston is at the beginning of the novel.

In addition to that, the couples in 1984 are encouraged to be together only as means of producing children for the party, and any two people that wish to marry each other but leave the party under the impression that they are attracted to each other are not granted the permission to marry. Therefore, because of this reason the party is preventing it's citizens from bonding with other people, because they wish everyone to only be loyal to the party. And because everyone is loyal to the exact same thing, this results in a loss of individuality.

In "Fahrenheit 451" a loss of individuality occurs because every individual is exposed to the exact same elements. For example, in school, intellectual subjects such as English and Philosophy have been eliminated from the curriculum and all that is left are sports. As a result of that, all children behave the same way: they are dangerous delinquents that are a threat to the adults and they attempt kill people for fun. In addition to that, women have also become exact copies of themselves because they all watch the same television shows that have no intellectual content to them. As a result of that, they all become superficial, and even when they discuss about another subject such as politics, their superficiality and lack of individuality come to the surface. One instance when this occurs, is when they all talk about how they voted for the same president because he is, as Mrs. Bowles says: "...one of the nicest-looking men that ever became president." (Bradbury 96)