A good example of satire in the book occurs when Clarisse is discussing her views on the future society and how it is different from what she might prefer. Some of the things considered normal in the book are current-day norms taken to the extreme, such as interstate highways. When the book was written, these highways were still new; the idea of high-speeds was considered dangerous. In the future, the cards drive over one hundred miles per hour, and since human life is considered expendable, there seem to be no consequences for traffic accidents.

"Or go out in the cars and race on the streets, trying to see how close you can get to lamp- posts, playing 'chicken...' Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks."
(Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, Google Books)

This satirizes both the tendency for people to desire more speed in getting to their destinations, and what Bradbury saw as the slow movement towards devaluing of human life. Nobody thinks anything strange of children killed in road accidents; it is not even prosecuted or criminalized, but simply an aftereffect of the efficient, high-speed cars. With this concept, the modern push to increase highway speeds seems less reasonable and more contemptuous of human life.

What is an example of social commentary in Fahrenheit 451?

Having written Fahrenheit 451 during the early days of television, Ray Bradbury shared some of his attitudes about this new medium with a contemporary CBS newscaster, Edward R. Murrow. One comment that Murrow made as he became concerned with the influence of some television programs echoes Bradbury's anxiety about this new medium:

During the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in which we live.

This desensitizing of people's thoughts and feelings brought about by their increasing attentiveness to technology is of great concern to Bradbury in the narrative of his novel. In the first part of Fahrenheit 451, Mildred's friends speak of their husbands with less affection than they do of their imaginary families on the wall screens. Also, many women feel, as Mrs. Phelps does, that "children are ruinous." Another of Mildred's friends, Mrs. Bowles solves "the problem" of her children:

"I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten. I put up with them when they come home three days a month; it's not bad at all. You heave them into the 'parlor' and turn the switch. It's like washing clothes; stuff laundry in and slam the lid" (pp. 92–93).

With war as a constant in the society of the novel, the women become unconcerned about their husbands. Mrs. Phelps says that she is on her third husband, and they are both "independent." For instance, her husband Pete tells her if he is killed in wartime, she should just remarry: "Just go right ahead and don't cry, but get married again, and don't think of me" (p. 91).

Bradbury therefore offers social commentary on an oppressive society that is...

What is an example of social commentary in Fahrenheit 451?