Fahrenheit 451: An Analysis

“Critical Evaluation” is an analysis of Fahrenheit 451 written by Laurence W. Mazzeno. The source is located on enotes, a free academic website for English literature. The source contains an overview of the novel, understanding its contents, exploring its controversial elements and comparing and contrasting it to other novels written by Ray Bradbury. The source critically analyses Fahrenheit 451 leaving no room for bias. The source can be verified as academic as the website; enotes is used by teachers and students worldwide. The tone of the essay seems to be towards an older audience. The essay also compares Fahrenheit 451 to evens in WW1 and WW2. Fahrenheit 451 written in 1953, the after effects of the two world wars had a strong influence

Fahrenheit 451 begins by introducing Guy Montag, a fireman who starts fires rather than putting them out, in a grim futuristic United States. The author describes Montag, along with the other fireman, as having, “…black hair, black brows, a fiery face, and a blue-steel shaved but unshaved look (page 30).” The book opens by describing the pleasure experiences doing his job as a fireman one evening. The first sentence being, “It was a pleasure to burn (page 1).” After his day at work he strolls home and happens across a young girl, around sixteen, named Clarisse McClellan. This young girl proves to the fireman to be unique, she is a deep thinker and rises above society. “She didn’t want to know how a thing was done, but why (page 57).” After talking with Clarisse Montage arrives home, finding is wife in bed and an empty bottle of pills on the ground. He takes her to the hospital were he watches strangers help is wife, Mildred. Here he begins to ponder saying, “There are billions of us and that’s too many. Nobody knows anyone (page 14).” Meaning that everyone lives for themselves and not for others, no one cares to make friends or understand another person. They live to be happy.

The book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is about a “hero” Guy Montag that realizes his world isn’t as it seemed before. The main character, Montag is a firefighter but in Montag’s society firefighters set fires and they burn books that people have banned instead of putting out fires since all their houses are fireproof so there is no need to be a normal firefighter that puts out fire. Clarisse, an almost 17 year old girl , helped Montag to stop and look around. Clarisse seems to represents nature and is a strange and mysterious character that tastes the rain, smells like strawberries and apricots, plays with flowers, and stops to look at the billboards when the whole society is busy moving fast. Her uncle is mentioned a lot whenever Montag talks to Clarisse and the uncle is to be inspiring her to be different. Near the end of chapter one Montag learns from his wife Mildred, that Clarisse had died from a car accident. Montag starts to read the books that he had hidden with Mildred and even takes on the subway. When Montag decides he needs help to change the world he goes to a former professor to form a plan to make a stand in the world. One of themes of Fahrenheit 451 is ignorance vs. knowledge which can be seen from the setting, characters, and plot.

Although Fahrenheit 451 was written in 1953, somehow Ray BRadbury had a pretty good idea of how our world may end up. Fahrenheit 451 is written to be based in the future to our current day, but we’re showing early signs that could later grow into this “fiction” world. Bradley talks of common suicides and prescriptions, TV’s controlling our lives. It’s big about being taught to act and think like everyone else, and censorship. It really is lucky we haven’t gotten to those extremes that are depicted, but I fear we may soon.

The author of the book Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, believed that “‘the automobile is the most dangerous weapon in our society’” (Conradt). Like his protagonist in Fahrenheit 451, he stuck up for what he believed in. In the book, the protagonist, Guy Montag, is a firefighter, however not in the same way as firefighters are today. In Fahrenheit 451, firefighters start fires to burn books because the government believes they show society’s flaws. When he meets a seventeen year old girl named Clarisse, she opens his eyes to see a corrupt society. He starts reading books until he hears that Clarisse died. Montag, with the help of his friend Faber, escapes the city in hopes to be able to read without being killed. He soon finds a group, lead by a man named Granger, that is trying to go against the government, and realizes there are more people like him. Clarisse, Guy Montag, and Granger’s group contribute to the theme of sticking up for what you believe is right, even if there are consequences.

Ray Bradbury captured the minds of millions with his atrocious vision of the future in his book Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury tries to reach out to the reader and show them the importance of keeping a strong hold on their humanity. He does this by setting the story in a frighteningly hollow society. These people aren’t allowed to read books, and no conflicting ideas are presented to the people. As a result, the people of this society are unable to think for themselves, and they start to lose their humanity because of this. As the reader gets deeper and deeper into the world that Bradbury has created in Fahrenheit 451 they start to realize what it truly means to be human and how important it is to stay human.

“If this goes on in the most predictive of the the three, although it doesn't try to predict an actual future with all its messy confusion.”-ray bradbury author 451. What bradbery is trying to say is if we continue assuming what will be in the future, we should live with what we have. I believe that someday our society will soon be like fahrenheits with a few exceptions.Our society is slowly becoming like ray bradbury's novel fahrenheit 451.

The book “Fahrenheit 451” is a powerful dystopian novel written by famous author Ray Bradbury, it was about a fireman named Guy Montag. Through the key events of this novel we find out about the character of Guy Montag. Firstly Montag does the complete opposite from what regular firemen do. He starts fires instead of putting them out. Books in Montag society are forbidden to read and if caught reading the books would be set on fire, which may suggest that this society is very ignorant by neglecting books, which are one of the most abundant sources of information. Freedom of information or media has been eliminated. Instead of reading, that society watches large amounts of television which are so big they cover the walls and listens to the radio with earphones in their ears. It was not normal for pedestrians to talk and have meaningful conversations until Montag met a teenager name Clarisse. Clarisse was a strange girl that opened up Montag thoughts. Montag believed that Clarisse was odd. She wasn’t like the norm of the society. She walked around the city like a pedestrian and, had meaningful conversations. After that encounter with Clarisse a number of events started to happen to Montag, he started to have a change in character and started thinking and questioning things, his wife Mildred tried to commit suicide with sleeping pills, a woman that hid books in her home decides to burn alive with her books, and Clarisse is killed in a car accident. Through some of these key

Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451 is about a dystopian society in which, books are not allowed to be read or in the possession of the people. The main character, Guy Montag is a fireman which quite ironically, burns the books that fellow neighbors have reported. One evening, as he is walking home from work, he meets his new neighbor Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse begins talking to him as soon as he meets her and he finds that a little odd. She is a teenager who plays a critical role in Montag’s conversion to this new mindset of curiosity. She was very curious herself and had her own different way of living, which made her seem like an outcast to society. She also was not into all the technology like the rest of society, which added to her anti-socialism. After they’ve talked more, she begins to spark Montag’s curiosity of why the government actually banned books. The more they talked, the more she would open his eyes to the reality of the government. She was a very intelligent human being so she was seen as a threat to the government because she could change the perspectives of the members of society rather easy. There are many reasons as to why society had to get rid of her as soon as possible, one of them is so they wouldn’t seem weak and lacking authority over society.

The book Fahrenheit 451 brought a very downcast forecast for humanity that has only gotten closer to becoming reality since the date of the book was published. As Fahrenheit 451 has aged, the story has gone from just a science fiction book to nearly a fortune telling story. Through a setting based in a dystopian future, such themes as ignorance, power of the human spirit, and censorship became the foundation of the book Fahrenheit 451 that made the story so impactful.

Ajahn Brahm, who is a British Theravada Buddhist Monk, once stated, “ Complaining is finding faults, wisdom is finding solutions.” Ajahn Brahm is saying that when you have wisdom you are able to find solutions, which relates to Fahrenheit 451 because throughout the story Montag struggles and, in order to find solutions he obtains wisdom. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag who is the main character, lives in a dystopian society with restrictions in life. Montag who is tired of living the life he lives, tries to find wisdom within books. Consequently, everything that Montag does to fight for books, leads him to wisdom that prepares him for a new future. In the end of the novel, the reader understands the most important lesson that Montag ends up acknowledging. When one goes through hard times it leads to piecies of wisdom such as; avoiding negative thoughts leads to unhappiness, growing involves having trust and being vulnerable in relationships, and that some things are worth fighting for.

In Fahrenheit 451, owning and reading books is illegal. Members of society focus only on entertainment, immediate gratification and speeding through life. If books are found, they are burned and their owner is arrested. If the owner refuses to abandon the books, as is the case with the Old Woman, he or she often dies, burning along with them. People with interests outside of technology and entertainment are viewed as strange, and possible threats.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is set a fictional dystopian city like los angeles. The world is now dark, cold and futuristic. There is now a lack of knowledge, leisure and freedom. Thinking is now an act against society and reading is even worse. People are glued to their electronics that fill their heads with trash, and everyone is similar to each other. There are some different from the rest though, those who are looking for a change.

In an average society, everyone goes to school and first they learn to read, then they read to learn, reading is where people get all their history, knowledge and facts. In the classic novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury everyone lives in a dystopian futuristic society where books are illegal and curiosity does not seem to be the norm. A character named Guy Montag has the job of a fireman and that requires him to burn books the books that are left in their world, but eventually he meets characters such as Clariesse McClellans, Beatty and Professor Faber that open his eyes to reading and the little things in the world to wonder about. The first change Montag goes through is he starts to ask questions and wonder why his society is where it’s at in the way they treat people. The next change is he becomes more interested in reading books than burning them and finding out what knowledge and history can be stashed away in the pages. The last change that happens to Montag is he becomes strong and his important questions get answered yet he still has room for more curiosity and research.

Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, illustrates the transformation of Guy Montag, a firefighter living in a dystopian society where books are illegal. Montag’s journey is revolved around his self-realization of true happiness and the discovery of books. The start of his self-reflection and realization stems from meeting his neighbor, Clarisse McClellan. His journey is further impacted by the mentoring from Faber, an old English professor. Several characters and events shift Montag’s perspective on society and life. The Guy Montag introduced in the beginning of the novel dramatically contrasts the Guy Montag presented at the end of the novel.