What is the setting of Fahrenheit 451?

The story's setting is one of its most important elements. While the primary components of setting, time and place are never defined explicitly, they defined are in general terms - that is to say, the novel is set at some time in the future and in some large, probably American, urban center. This sense of what might be called "generic" elements functions, on one level, to create and define a sense of universality not so much around the specific events of the story but around its themes and warnings. In other words, the book is less about the particulars of what happens but more about the generalities of why, and how.

Further - setting the narrative in the future clearly and pointedly suggests that the actions and attitudes of society as a whole are, if not inevitable, at least a highly possible potential outcome of current actions and attitudes. This theory is supported by the sense that while there are some very clear evolutions in technology and philosophy, those evolutions are portrayed as extensions of present day situations. As well, how human beings vocally and verbally communicate with each other in this unspecified future is not all that different from the present - in other words, these people of the future are not all that different from us.

Finally, setting the narrative within an urban environment reinforces the work's mostly sub-textual contention that at least part of the reason why society, in the narrative, became what it did was is the technology behind, and emerging from, urbanization. Also, something else emerging from urbanization, as contemporary studies have show, is a lack of knowledge and awareness of others in the community, not to mention the desire for such knowledge and awareness. Said lacking tend to reinforce the desire for and tendency towards mindless acceptance of the entertainment, politics, and social opportunities most readily available, the sort experienced and advocated by Mildred, her visitors, and by the vast majority of the people of the time. The fewer people and perspectives one encounters, the less likely one is to face challenges to one's beliefs, and to have one's views changed and/or expanded by those challenges.