Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

[Cooper]

Fahrenheit 451 is a novel about the line between ignorance and knowledge and censorship in a dystopian society. Guy Montag is a “fireman,” except not the type that typically comes to mind. The role of firemen in the story is to destroy physical printed books along with homes which contain them. He is never curious about why he burns them, but he doesn’t bother to find out either. All of a sudden, he finds himself with a wife on the verge of suicide and a young neighbor who has gone missing. The neighbor, Clarisse had always been strangely happy yet rebellious to the ways of society. While every other citizen was glued to their television, he began to question his job, his wife, and the society in general. Out of curiosity, he sneaks a book and realizes how the government removes all knowledge in order to control its citizens.

Guy Montag begins the story as oblivious as everyone else. He conforms to the ways of society without questioning anything. His wife, Mildred, is an even worse example of this. She sits in front of the television all day and even gets to the point where she attempts suicide. Guy becomes educated and although he is all alone, he decides to rebel and steal more books. He is very brave and eventually he becomes more educated. One character who helped him become that way is Clarisse McClellan. She is his neighbor in the beginning of the story and he notices something strange about her personality immediately. She loved nature and displayed curiosity which Guy had never seen before. She had a very bright personality and she seemed so human to him. This is one of the motivating factors for his self-examination.

I read this book expecting to hear about a society that banned books and a rebellious man who steals them just to rebel. Although this is somewhat true, the story is so much more than that. Bradbury wrote this novel with the intent to display the possibility of societies with strong governments. In order to gain control over citizens, the author chose to remove one of the lighthouses of knowledge: books. From reading about our world’s history to enjoying an interesting novel, all books were completely illegal. I would recommend reading this story to anyone who is interested in science fiction and dystopian societies. In my opinion, it appears as if this story was written as somewhat of a warning of what society could become in the future.