An Insider's Account Of A Social Movement Under Siege By Will Potter

The theme of the novel Fahrenheit 451 is incredibly complex and completely entwined with almost every description and word choice the author chose to employ. On the surface, it appears to be simple commentary on the incompetence of those unwilling to cooperate with the system and the agitation they caused by their socially-aberrant behaviors, i.e. Clarisse McClellan’s love for talking about unconventional topics and a deep appreciation for nature. Yet, once one looks deeper into the metaphorical wording and progression in the novel’s character-arcs and shift in tones, you come to find it is instead exploiting the deeper, sicker behaviors of those in charge and the silencing effect they have on the public. An example is the burning of

A human being needs the freedom of thought, the right of love and right to express themselves to have good, hearty life. In the two dystopian fictions, 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury gives readers an insight to a possible frightening future. In the two books Captain Beatty and O’brien stand as the main antagonist who uses their occupation to control other people. At the beginning of the novel Beatty and O’brien pretends to be on the side of the protagonist and persuade them to do what they want, but eventually show their true face at the end.

In Bradbury 's Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian society is depicted lacking one major aspect; books. Written in the wake of the cultural purge by Nazi Germany, there are evident parallels of the effects of mass media on culture between the book and the events that took place in Germany. Bradbury 's intent of the novel is to demonstrate that in the lack of books and outside forms of culture, information given replaces true, original thought, and the one thing that makes people human disappears. Without the ability to freely think or successfully communicate, humanity becomes no different than a machine. In Anthem, by Ayn Rand, Equality 7-2521 comes to the realization that the significance of individuality, and that one’s own free thoughts, ideas, and perceptions are what gives the individual purpose, and the world a meaning. Guy Montag comes to a similar realization when he follows the steps of Equality 7-2521, and takes a step back from society to gain a lens through Clarisse McKlellan. A lack of culture and literature has visible effects of Clarisse McKellan, Guy Montag, Mildred, and society as a whole. The ideologies, class struggles, and methods of control depicted in Fahrenheit 451 shed light upon the oppression of culture in the absence of books, literature, and a basis for freethought.

Mass cultures are created by silencing the voices of the opposition, and in Fahrenheit 451 the oppression is in the form of book burning. By burning these books, in a muddled mess of metaphors and allusions, Ray Bradbury is able to show the true danger of a monotone, censored society and the power of individualism and intellectuality. By setting the scene in an ambiguous time and place (although it is in the future), Bradbury makes the dystopian novel more relatable.

The public of Fahrenheit 451 are seemingly unaware of how much they are being controlled and it takes only a few moments of clarity for the main character, Montag, to realize how corrupt his own society is. Bradbury uses his own life experiences of WWII and the Nazi book burnings for inspiration in the creation of his top-selling novel. Fahrenheit 451 is as entertaining as it is informative and a warning to the world about the dangers of censorship and protecting the freedom of

Peter Singer is defined by being the most positive influencer of all living philosopher in the world. An Australian moral philosopher, environmentalist and animal activist, most noted for his work of Animal Liberation that was published in 1975, a canonical text in animal rights/liberation theory (Singer, 2002). Singer is often found arguing the wrongfulness of what human society performs to millions of suffering animals. A vigorous activist who specializes in applied ethics and ethical issues (Singer, 2002). He firmly believes that as humans we should become just like him and think and feel the way he does. Following his way of life, we could become vegetarians and not perform any wrongfulness to animals that do not deserve to be eaten

The people of the world of Fahrenheit 451 didn’t understand the deeper meanings of books, and feared the ideas they could put into people’s minds, so they burned them and put people owning them on trial. Mainly people of authority, like Captain Beatty of the firemen, thought people would be more manageable and better to each other if they didn’t have conflict. Books posed conflicts and made people think about how they could better their flaws, which gave people opinions, which can only lead to fighting, according to this world’s government. "Bigger the population, the more minorities. Don't step on the toes of the dog lovers, the cat lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians, second-generation Chinese, Swedes, Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen, people from Oregon or Mexico. The people in this book, this

At the point when the native's key rights are wiped out, the general public turns out to be only a deception of a utopia.The two works being discussed in this exposition are Minority Report, coordinated by Steven Spielberg and Fahrenheit 451, composed by Ray Bradbury. In Minority Report, a cutting edge innovation is used to secure culprits previously they submit their demonstration of savagery. In Fahrenheit 451, a future in which books are unlawful and where the result is the consuming of his/her home is displayed. The two tragic attributes that were shown in the two works was a correctional framework that needs due process laws and steady observation by police organizations. The consequence of these tragic social orders made a hindered society

Most novels or documentaries regarding the Revolutionary Generation, largely focus on the war for independence, which includes the Continental Congress. Not often in media, does one find a post-war political book. The Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis dives in the complexities faced by the Founding Fathers of America. As they saw themselves as brothers (with the exception of Abigail Adams), they often did not agree on most of each other’s ideas. A prime example would be the 1790’s, when America witnessed the birth of political parties. The Founding Fathers encountered numerous tests as they tried to establish a democratic republic, due to the fact of various different visions

Betrayal will always end in chaos. In Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, society is betrayed by rebels attempting to save banned books. This betrayal ultimately causes chaos and conflict against society itself. No one reacts well to being betrayed; the disloyalty of family, co-workers and/or one’s community leads to more distrust, disloyalty and eventually chaos. Specifically, no one living in a dystopian society reacts positively to the act of betrayal. Bradbury’s main character Montag, is betrayed by his wife and his society, leading to his distrust and ultimate betrayal of his own co-workers and community. The spread of distrust and betrayal in this novel leads to the chaos that eventually destroys Bradbury’s dystopian society.

On the topic of animal rights, Vicki Hearne and Peter Singer represent opposite ends of a belief spectrum. Singer describes, in numerous articles, that he believes animal rights should focus on if the animal is suffering, and the best option to prevent it is to limit interaction between animals and humans. Specifically, in “Speciesism and Moral Status” Singer compares the intelligence and ability of non-human animals to those with severe cognitive disabilities to establish an outrageous solution to animal belittlement. He uses logos (the appeal to reason) and ethos (the appeal to ethics), to question the current rights in place to appeal to other scholars. Nevertheless, his approach can cause an emotional disconnect to the readers; this apparent in contrast to Hearne’s pathos (the

Fear is a common technique adopted by totalitarian governments in order to maintain control. Bradbury demonstrates the use of fear, in Fahrenheit 451, through the public burning of books; “Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright” (Badbury 58). Fire is big, bright and noticeable. Books are burnt for everyone to see, in order to create a population who do not rebel, since they become fearful of having their houses burnt down as well. After committing a crime, escape becomes the only option to avoid punishment, such as condemnation. However, the Mechanical Hound creates a sense of no hope for the population to escape, since it never fails demonstrated when the television report says, “[the] Mechanical Hound never fails. Never since its first use in tracking quarry has thus incredible invention made a mistake.” (Bradbury 126). The Mechanical Hound is flawless. With a sniff of a person’s scent, it can successfully track them without failing. Therefore, the public looses hope in liberation, making it futile to rebel. The consequences enacted by the authorities when one breaks the law causes people to refrain from revolting, enabling the maintenance of discipline through fear. In addition, fear helps mask the inadequacies of the government. The war is a tool used by the government, exemplified when Mrs. Phelps says, “He’ll be

The use of censorship to examine and eliminate elements in media that are found to be unorthodox or radical has been prevalent in society for centuries. Through censorship, ideas found to be objectionable or offensive are repressed. In his prophetic novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury denotes the common practice of government censorship of books as a suppressive and marginalizing concept for humans because it strips them of the realities, truths, and meaning behind books and deprives them the freedom to deliberate and act on them. The protagonist, Guy Montag lives in a futuristic, American society and is a ‘firemen’; a group of men that deflect the old conventional purpose of stopping fires, to creating

The main theme of Animal Liberation by Peter Singer is summarized in one quote by Isaac Bashevis Singer, “In their behavior towards creatures, all men [are] Nazis” (84). Singer spends the whole book attempting to prove that Nazis and the abusers of animals are the same. He does this by talking about scientific testing and the way animals are treated before being killed for their meat. He dives into the specifics of what happens during animal testing and animals killed for meat in order to appeal to the humanity of the reader in order to exploit it. By exploiting the humanity of the reader Singer attempts to guilt the reader into becoming a vegetarian.

The purpose of fiction is not solely enjoyment. Fictional works are falsehoods that reveal truths in a more entertaining fashion than non-fiction. The reality is that fiction captures people’s attention beyond simply reading, by illustrating disturbing truths. The mystery is solved by playing with the reader’s emotions, leading them to take a different perspective on the view of the world. Three novels show how easily individual choices made out of fear can lead to a repressive government like that of Nazi Germany. The first two novels The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling, act as a warning, to show the dangers of a repressive social system and how individuals are conforming out of fear in exchange for stability. The end result is a world with no individuality and free will, represented in Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, the World State has genetically engineered their population and from the birth are being structured, so only few are capable of free thought, and then peer pressure and soma keep those in society stability.