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Marzo-Septiembre  2009

The Economics of Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

CategoríaMarzo-Septiembre 2009Economics

Cecil E. Bohanon, W. Allen Hutson

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__________________________________________________________________ Cecil E . Bohanon and W . Allen Hutson The Economics of Ray Bradbury s Fahrenheit 451 Introduction This paper reflects on Ray Bradbury s 1953 dystopian science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 from an economic perspective . To be sure , there is little in the novel that gives hint to how the economy is organized or how resources are allocated between competing uses in the novel s futuristic world . Nor are there many salient examples of standard economic principles such as the law of demand , elasticity , market equilibrium or the other topics in neo-classical economic analysis . Yet there is much discussion in the novel of happiness . The novel s protagonist chooses to make a radical break with society after he comes to recognize his own unhappiness . In neo-classical economic terms , new information changes tastes , which in turn changes behavior . Case closed . What is there to discuss ? However , the more philosophical analysis of both Ludwig von Mises Human Action and John Stuart Mill s On Utilitarianism do provide an economic lens from which to assess the novel . Guy Montag , the hero of the novel , acts in Cecil E . Bohanon is Professor of Economics , Ball State University , Muncie , Indiana . W . Allen Hutson graduated from Ball State in 2008 . An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Conference of the Association of Private Enterprise Education ( APEE ), April 8 , 2008 , Las Vegas , Nevada . a way consistent with Misesian analysis . To put it another way , Misesian analysis does not render Montag s choices as a trivial or mechanical maximization problem , but rather as an active , groping and near-entrepreneurial quest for personal fulfillment in a constrained world . The Misesian framework is a way of making Montag s action interesting and meaningful . In the same vein , John Stuart Mill s reflection on happiness in his essay On Utilitarianism offers a normative economic approach to understanding both Montag s search for happiness and the constraints he faces in the search . All this is not a particular critique of neo-classical economics as much as an argument that the framework and rhetoric of Austrian and classical economics is better suited to the task of considering issues in literature than the standard neo-classical approach . 1 1 Tyler Cowen ( 2008 ) argues that economic models and novels have more similarities than is usually imagined . Both specify a set of initial conditions that are subsequently modified . Both examine the consequences of the subsequent modifications . In the case of the model the consequences flow from the model s internal logic . In the case of the novel the consequences flow from the author s imagination . That the author has an implicit model of human behavior in mind is not farfetched ! Indeed , literary criticism often attempts to spell out the author s implicit __________________________________________________________________ Laissez-Faire 23
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__________________________________________________________________ The paper proceeds in the following fashion . First , a simplified plot summary is presented . The next two sections will consider the novel from the perspective of Human Action and On Utilitarianism . A penultimate section focuses on the author , Bradbury , and the final section offers conclusions and insights . Plot Summary templative activities . The signature of the society is the total criminalization of books . If an individual is found to possess books he or she is arrested , the fire department is contacted , and the books are publicly burned . The title Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper combusts . As homes and buildings have been fireproofed the only job of the fire department is to burn books as custodians of our peace of mind ( p . 59 ). The novel is set in a futuristic world that is simultaneously militaristic , prosperous and highly controlled . As mentioned before , there is little hint of the economic system in place . That a prosperous economy is consistent with strictly controlled flows of information is implausible to mainstream economic thinking today . Yet recall the novel was written in the early 1950 s , long before the freedom and prosperity nexus was as well understood as it is now . In any case , in Bradbury s vision direct government repression was not the reason freedom of inquiry was destroyed . Rather , government manipulation of media and entertainment so dulled the senses of the population that tyranny was a natural byproduct . Allusion is made to two nuclear wars in the 1990 s that the society won . It is reported that the domestic population is well fed and well entertained while other parts of the world are impoverished ( p . 73 ). Information and media channels are totally controlled by the state and dedicated to its praise and ( quite crucially for Bradbury s thesis ) to the entertainment of the population . Quick-paced entertainments are heavily subsidized and encouraged so as to preclude more conmodel of the world . Correspondingly , models are at their core imaginative stories about the nature of the world . The plot is rather thin . Guy Montag is a 30 year old fireman . Through a series of events he becomes a book-loving dissident . He meets an almost 17 year old girl , Clarisse McClellan , who is from a family of dissidents . Through conversations with her he becomes unhappy and begins to show an intellectual interest in the very books he has spent the last decade burning . His wife , Mildred , is shallow , totally engrossed in the society s pursuit of banal pleasures , and completely appalled by her husband s newfound inquisitiveness . Guy s immediate work supervisor , Fire Chief Beatty , is a disaffected intellectual who is familiar with the content of many of the books he burns and absolutely dedicated to their destruction . Beatty s cynical monologue which attempts to convince Guy of the social necessity and desirability of book burning is a central passage of the novel ( pp . 54-63 ). Beatty eventually entraps and arrests Guy , who in turn becomes a criminal as he kills the Captain to escape arrest . Beatty s counterpoint is the 60 + year old retired Professor Faber , who forty years ago worked at one of the last liberal arts colleges . Having made a living speculating on the stock market (?) he becomes Montag s mentor and coconspirator . Faber s monologue to Montag is another central passage ( pp . 80-91 ). __________________________________________________________________ Laissez-Faire 24
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__________________________________________________________________ After killing Beatty , Guy flees to the countryside undetected . He manages to join up with a group of intellectuals , each of who memorize certain books . A war starts simultaneously with Montag s escape and destroys the urban area from which he escapes . There are many inconsistencies in the framework . The story is neither a detailed or well-conceived model of a totalitarian society nor an accurate blueprint of how such a society would emerge . Bradbury s speculation of an entertaining but minddulling government-run media being a linchpin in maintaining a totalitarian society is an interesting and provocative theme . The story can also be seen as one man s discovery of intellectual life in a society that both overtly and covertly discourages such endeavors . Fahrenheit 451 from Human Action s Perspective Guy s actions can be shoe-horned into a neo-classical microeconomics . Consider a society with two sets of goods : vector X1 , X2 Xn which are a set of basic goods and fast paced pleasures with prices p1 , p2 ... pn ; and vector J1 , J2 ... Jn which are a set of contemplative intellectual pleasures with prices h1 , h2… hn . Montag has a utility function U = U ( X1 , X2 Xn ; J1 , J2 Jn ) and an income of Ym . Montag maximizes his utility function subject to his income constraint . Montag s preferences are such that in his initial state he exclusively consumes from the X vector of goods . Upon interactions with Clarisse , Montag s preferences change so that his desired consumption bundle now includes items from the J vector of goods as well . Tyler Cowen s ( 2008 ) insight is quite appropriate : Utility maximization may describe the behavior of ( literary ) characters ex post , but it does not help us understand or predict their behavior very much .” One could offer a more specific functional form for Montag s utility function and examine the changes in parameter values necessary to generate the described results , but the spirit of Cowen s remark still holds : formal utility theory is a rather sterile way of expressing behavioral changes . Now compare this to the basic framework outlined by Ludwig von Mises in Human Action : Acting man is eager to substitute a more satisfactory state of affairs for a less satisfactory state . His mind imagines conditions which suit him better . The incentive that impels a man to act is always some uneasiness . But to make a man act , uneasiness and the image of a more satisfactory state alone are not sufficient . A third condition is required : the expectation that purposeful behavior has the power to remove or at least to alleviate the felt uneasiness . In the absence of this condition no action is feasible . Man must yield to the inevitable . He must submit to destiny . Mises is outlining a framework and a process by which action takes place . This framework is simply a richer format for explaining the behavior of a literary character , as we shall see with Guy Montag . Fahrenheit 451 describes Guy s journey from happiness to uneasiness , to imagining a better state and finally to a plan of action that attempts to overcome his dissatisfaction . Each of these Misesian steps can be found in Guy s major actions in the novel . Guy s journey begins as he sets a room full of books on fire . Bradbury de- __________________________________________________________________ Laissez-Faire 25
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__________________________________________________________________ scribes how he feels about his job : He knew that when he returned to the firehouse , he might wink at himself , a minstrel man , burnt-corked , in the mirror . Later , going to sleep , he would feel the fiery smiles still gripped by his face muscles , in the dark . It never went away , that smile , as long as he remembered ( p . 2 ). He is satisfied with his job , and he does not seem willing to change anything about his life . Yet on his way home that night a series of events begins that eventually cause his behavior to change . anyway , and he does , killing the old woman . Guy is upset and perplexed . Why would anyone kill themselves for a collection of books ? Guy also manages to slip a few books under his uniform . When Guy comes home he realizes he does not love his wife and he would not cry if she died . This realization drags Guy down even further . Guy s unease is at its peak when he exclaims to himself : How do you get so empty ? Who takes it out of you ?” ( p . 44 ). Guy stumbles upon a teenage girl who lives in a house next to his , and she fascinates him . Unlike his wife , Clarisse is imaginative , does not watch television or participate in the other mass entertainments common in the society . Before going home she startles Guy by asking , Are you happy ?” On that same night he finds his wife overdosed on sleeping pills . He solicits and obtains successful emergency medical treatment for Mildred , who sleeps through the rest of the night . He is attracted to Clarisse s house , where she and her family are in conversation , notices the family s laughter ... relaxed and hearty ,” and longs to be part of their socialization but he returns to his house . Lying in bed after these events he says aloud , I don t know anything anymore .” The reader readily discerns his initial sense of unease and its source . Guy talks to Clarisse at least two more times , and his fascination with the girl increases as does his sense of alienation from his world . Guy s unhappiness swells after he engages in an unusual book raid . Unlike other raids , where the recalcitrant book owner had fled or been arrested and carted off , in this instance the book owner is still at her residence . They tell the woman to leave , but she refuses . Beatty tells Guy to set the blaze The woman s love for books sparks Guy s imagination . If she were a normal person and books made her happy , then books may be able to help Guy too . He tells Mildred , She was as rational as you and I , more so perhaps , and we burnt her ( p . 51 ). A few pages later Guy announces his unease and proposes a solution to Mildred : I don t know what it is . I m so damned unhappy , I m so mad , and I don t know why ... and don t know what . I might even start reading books ( pp . 64- 65 , emphasis added ). Guy now has both Misesian prerequisites to action : uneasiness and the image of a better state , and a plan for purposeful behavior to alleviate the unease . The story then unfolds the details of Guy s actions : he begins reading forbidden books , seeks a professor with whom to learn from , and plots a revolution of sorts . All of the actions stem from Guy s uneasiness and the expectation that those actions might alleviate it . Mises basic principles of human action describe Guy s behavior , and can be applied to any main character in almost any novel . This framework gives wide berth to different action in novels as he __________________________________________________________________ Laissez-Faire 26
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