George and Hazel notice something is different, but cannot comprehend it. They are incapable of showing intense emotion. They are emotionally illiterate because of social conditioning by the state as well as handicaps put on people like George. The state is able to control people this way. Society in Fahrenheit 451 is also dystopian nightmare. The state promotes superficial emotions. They control people by promoting superficial lives and thoughts. There is little emotional literacy and, like in Harrison Bergeron, people generally live vacuous disattached lives.