Paul Moore

Human Identity and Dystopia

Human identity can be defined by our own beliefs. It shapes, molds, and creates the

reality around us. People are born into a world lacking answers and truth, and we as individuals

create these truths from what we identify with. In a dystopian future there is a disconnection

between belief and truth, and humanity from identity. Such is true in both Richard Linklater’s a

Scanner Darkly and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. A desolate future of paranoia, drug use,

and totalitarian authority stifle human existence for the purpose of control. Human identity,

relating to other people, and the ability to question is key to preventing dystopia. When humans

are placed in a position of authority or experience repeated drug use, they become numb to the

world around them. Main characters in both A Scanner Darkly and Fahrenheit 451 each

represent how human identity is lost through authoritarianism and drug use.

The main character of a Scanner Darkly has two different identities. One of them is

“Fred”, his undercover alias he uses at the police station. Fred’s job is to constantly survey a

house of people suspected of having ties to a drug ring. The drug “substance D” has become

prevalent among society and the government seeks to control it. Anyone taking substance D is at

risk of being arrested and sent to a rehabilitation clinic for addicts and criminals called New

Path. Fred’s other identity is that of Bob Arctor: a guy living in the house he is watching. Arctor

is addicted to substance D along with everyone else he lives with. This creates two separate

identities inside the same person: one of authority, and one of being a criminal in the eyes of the

law. Fahrenheit 451’s main character is Guy Montag. Montag’s job is to burn books because

they are considered illegal contraband. Through a course of events, Montag eventually begins to

read the books he burns. The books give him insight into knowledge, culture, and human

emotion which change his reality. He eventually disassociates with the world around him and the

people he knows. His wife eventually reports him for having books, and he flees from his home

to live with a secret society of people who love books.

Fred and Montag’s experience contain many parallels which define their struggle with

identity. Both of them are working for a totalitarian government in an authority position, but then

become addicted to the very thing they are trying to destroy. Arctor is addicted to substance D

and Montag is addicted to books. They begin to understand and relate to the people they have

been trained to persecute and track through their addictions. The position of authority causes a

lack of empathy with other humans, especially those who are offenders against the current rule of

law. Authority figures do not view those they are superior to in some way as equals. This lack of

equality and natural respect for other humans is what causes the destruction of empathy. In order

for a change or rebellion to occur in the protagonist, a disconnection between their authoritarian

identity and their human identity must occur in order to relate other people again. It is the bond

of existence that we have with other humans that creates empathy for one another. When that

bond is destroyed on a wide scale in society then dystopia has already begun. Fred and Montag

are both separated individuals as authority figures that are progressively searching for their

connection to other people or their “human identity”. The inherent urge to define our own

existence and connect with others as human beings is what the dystopian governments seek to

control in order to gain absolute power.

While Montag’s separation is much more gradual and ambiguous, Fred and Arctor’s

separation is immediately defined from the start of the film. It is evident that they are separate

identities from the different names alone. Fred also wears a special suit called a “scramble suit”

which is a constantly evolving mass of human shapes and bodies. It keeps all the identities of the

undercover agents a secret even to each other. This is symbolic of the loss of identity that

happens when one is placed in an authoritarian position. None of the police can identify with

each other, and they have no solid distinguishable characteristics. When Fred takes off the

scramble suit he becomes Bob Arctor. However, Fred never identifies himself in the movie as

being the same as Arctor and often refers to him as someone who is completely different, “I'd say

Arctor is doomed if he's up to something. And I have a hunch from what you're saying that he

is.”(Frank Linklater)

There are also moments where Fred enters a room in order to have medical evaluations

performed on him. The medical examiners imply that a separation of self is a side effect of

taking substance D, “Damage has taken place to the normally dominant left hemisphere, and the

right hemisphere is attempting to compensate. The two hemispheres in my brain are competing?

Yes”(Frank Linklater). The left hemisphere is Arctor and his right hemisphere is Fred. Arctor is

a damaged person who is addicted to substance D, apathetic towards everything, and hates

himself. Fred is trying to compensate by disconnecting from Arctor in an attempt to function as a

normal person in society. However, Fred is unable to connect with anyone because he is in a

work environment of authority. He is a suit among other suits that watch tapes all day in order to

make money. Neither of the identities are human because Fred is authoritarian and Arctor is a

drug addict. The human identity is lost among the two but emerges briefly when Fred step into

the medical examination room and takes off the suit. In these scenes, he is not Fred because he is

not wearing the suit, and he is not Arctor because he is still called Fred. One of the medical

examiners tells Fred that if he keeps it up he might just make it and Fred replies, “Make it? Make

what? The team? The chick? Make good? Make do? Make out? Make sense? Make money?

Make time? Define your terms”(Frank Linklater). He is at a loss to define not only himself but

his purpose.

Montag remains the same physical character during Fahrenheit 451, but has a

more ideological change. The physical change in Montag is represented by his wife Linda and

the girl Clarrise. Linda is like everyone else, takes unspecified pills regularly to make her happy,

and has completely assimilated into the dystopian bookless society. Clarrise is her direct opposite

as she likes books, has a very distinguishable personality, and attempts to connect with Montag.

In this instance, Linda represents disconnection through drug use, Montag represents

disconnection through authority, and Clarrise represents the human identity. Clarrise notices that

Montag has a human identity inside of him while talking to him, “You're not like the others. I've

seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you

looked at the moon, last night. The others would never do that”(21). When Montag talks to

Clarrise, it is usually on his way home from work. His human identity is noticeable when he is

not at his job being authoritarian, and he is not at home with his drug using wife who watches

television all day. It is during this time he is able to connect with Clarrise on a social level.

Clarrise is responsible for his initial interest in books, and is symbolic of the human identity’s

urge to search and question. In the film version of Fahrenheit 451, the character of Clarrise and

Linda is played by the same actress. There is a comparison created of how Linda is actually

Clarrise if the world not changed into a dystopia. Linda is the representation of what happens

when the loss of human identity occurs through drug use and lack of knowledge.

Overall, it is the connection and bonding of people that prevents the foundation of

a dystopia from forming. The ability to relate to other humans, feeling empathy for other

humans, and questioning human existence are what defines a human identity. These abilities are

all controlled or subdued through authority or drugs. If people allow their existence to be defined

by an outside source or influence, then they lose their ability to think, feel, and judge. Without a

sense of individualism as well as social connectivity, humans are easily controlled through power

and influence. These stories warn against the danger that control is far more powerful when

applied mentally as opposed to physically. When we give up who we are, what we are, and why

we live, we give up our world.