Fahrenheit 451 And The Allegory Of The Cave By Ray Bradbury

My appreciation of a literary work was enhanced by understanding symbol when I read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The science fiction novel is about Guy Montag, a man who is a firefighter. In this time, the job of a firefighter is to burn and destroy all books because reading or having books is illegal. He does his job, day by day, burning books without giving it a thought. As the novel continues, Montag realizes that books are not bad and tries to save them. He remembers a time when fire was not a destructive force; fire was also a source of warmth and comfort. In this novel, fire represents two opposing forces, depending on how it is used. The firemen use it to destroy, but Montag learns that it gives a source of a warm and comforting affect when used correctly.

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury incorporates people and events to change Montag’s character through the course of the story. He uses characterization making Montag switch perspectives. Ray Bradbury uses this book to reveal how much Montag can change.

Bradbury also serves to warn us of the danger of ignorance in this futuristic dystopia. This again is reflective of the Nazi book burnings and the idea of people leaving behind knowledge and becoming ‘blissfully’ ignorant of the past. In Fahrenheit 451 the fireman's responsibility is to destroy knowledge and promote ignorance in order to ensure equality. Ignorance, however, promotes suicide, poor decisions, and empty lives. When Beatty discovers Montag's hidden collection of books, he explains that all firemen become curious of books, and may have time to explore them for a short time before disposing of them. He then tells Montag about the state of the world: people are made

The new 2015 generation is growing up in a technology based culture. More books are being read online, music on phones or ipods, there is even online school. Technology is helping to advance our society and bring us to a new chapter in our nation. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury shows how the power and advancement of technology is changing the people of the world by controlling them.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is considered a model for Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, because of the struggles and revelations of the prisoner. Guy Montag is the prisoner in the novel. His society, with the fake reality, has caused him to undergo a series of struggles and revelations as he ascends. The novel and the allegory relate because the allegory is an outline for what the novel is.The allegory has a prisoner stage, the bonfire stage and an above ground stage. Montag went from being prisoner and believing in all the fake realities; such as, the fireman rules or any of societies rules. Then to the bonfire stage where Clarisse played a big part in making him realize that books provide meaning to people. After is above ground,

Fahrenheit 451 relates to Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" in the sense that there was a false truth of the world. The people in the story didn't know the "real world". For example, in Fahrenheit 451, people believed that firemen always set fire to homes, not put them out. In "Allegory of the Cave" the prisoners are "forced to keep their head immobile", much like the people in Fahrenheit 451 are forced to burn all books. These two things are similar because they both hide the truth.

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, is a prime example of social criticism. The story sets in the 24th century where people race jet cars; the author’s idea of the future. It shows a flawed social structure, controlled by the media and government with banning and burning of books, and suppressing society’s minds from history. Their logical thought was that it would keep society from thinking too much, which in turn would prevent bad thoughts, and to keep them “happy all the time”. The book tells a story of Guy Montag, the protagonist, and his life as a book burner. He was an “instrument” of the government, a firefighter that was used to suppress information from people by burning all books. The characters live in a world where the past is hidden from them. The government has brain washed society and they are forced to contemplate on what is true and what is not. Montag plays a round character that undergoes change throughout the story. He starts as a narrow-minded character that does what he is told, no questions asked. He has lived his life thinking he was happy. As a reader, you will begin to sense a character change in Montag as this paper will analyze certain events that occur in his life representing an individual fighting against conformity. It begins with control of the masses by censorship as society is censored from history by book burning and oppressive technology. The rise of Montag’s character development starts to socially rebel from societies norms causing him

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury states the negative effects of technology. Bradbury illustrates a society where books are banned and people entertain themselves with parlor walls, which is a TV. One of the characters Mildred, who is the wife of Montag, a fireman who is paid to burn books. Mildred is always attached to technology and can’t get away from it. She is usually watching the parlor or listening to her seashell earbuds. Bradbury uses the literary element of indirect characterization on Mildred to suggest how she is selfish and thoughtless, examining the negative effects of technology when one constantly uses it and relies on it which causes obsession and over-reliance towards technology leading one to not think critically

Knowledge is power. A power that gives the people their right to have influence in society. Imagine a world where this power was taken away. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a fireman named Guy Montag lives in a society some time in the future where a fireman’s job is to burn all books in order to prevent people from trying to revolt against the government with knowledge, and the books are replaced by mindless technology. Montag is originally one of the majority of people who is brainwashed and conforms to this society. After meeting an unusual teenager named Clarisse who introduces him to books, Montag starts to wonder what books are really like. As he begins reading literature, Montag breaks away from the others and becomes one of these non-conformists himself, speaking out against the corrupt society. Many key aspects of the society set up by Bradbury show how technology has destroyed this fictional society and causes readers to notice similarities in today’s real society.

To begin, both “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury are pieces of literature that illustrate a symbolic scenario of human society, and the relationship between individual truths and reality. As they both share the same vital messages concerning society’s reactions to unfamiliar and new knowledge, both passages contain similar themes and characters. Comprising of universes that include people who are heavily influenced by physical and mental barriers, “Allegory of the Cave” and Fahrenheit 451 emphasize the importance of curiosity, insight, and radical perception.

Fahrenheit 451 and “The Allegory of the Cave” relate in the sense that society is ignorant and fears facing reality. In both, the discovery of something unknown or unfamiliar changes the characters’ views on the world, especially after being exposed to something so different to what you have spent your whole life knowing.

“There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches”. This quote was put into words by the great author, Ray Bradbury, explaining his point of view that books are useless and could be burned in many ways, and lack of knowledge should occur. Fahrenheit 451 is one of Bradbury’s famous dystopian fictional novels that were published in 1953, which showed lack of knowledge as one of its concepts. Lack of knowledge exists throughout the novel because firemen burned books, people of the society had no time to think, and the society relied on technology more than anything else.

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury is a novel based in the future, placing the reader to a time where owning books was against the law. In a setting so dreadful where those who want to better themselves by thinking for themselves, and by secretly reading books are outlaws as well. The books and ideas are burned in a pit, the books are burned physically, and ideas are burned from the mind metaphorically. Mr. Bradbury use of literary devices, such as symbolism, but it is the main idea he wants to share with the readers is what makes this novel so devastating.

“The world is darkness; knowledge is light; but knowledge without truth is a mere shadow.” (Ali Ibn Abi Talib) Truth is the key to the cave of ignorance that confines each and every human being on this planet. Although many of us think we are consciously aware of all truth, society has restricted us to believe what we are told by continuously stacking layers of lies over top of each other. As a growing society, many lies have been recovered but many still linger around us every day. Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, is based on a dystopian society solely made up of lies. When the truth confronts a major character in this novel, shocking decisions are made to ensure its protection. Similarly in the Wachowski Brothers’ film, The Matrix, Neo felt something; he didn’t know what it was but it was driving him mad. He needed answers, and when he finally got them, he was the only one who could protect it for the sake of all of humanity. Finally, in Philip Noyce’s film, Rabbit Proof Fence, three little girls express their loyalty to the truth with their persistence towards saving their cultural identity. These three pieces of literature are prime examples of how lies can easily take over a life, however, strong will and persistence kept the humanity of truth alive within them. The awareness of truth within a society drives one to embrace the insight that they now hold; this allows them to protect their new knowledge from the surrounding influences that could easily take it away.

Fahrenheit 451 depicts a time in the future of America where people are unaware of the state of the world and are content with not knowing. These people have no deep thoughts about things and don’t question what they’re told. Books are banned and burned when found and anything that is printed is so short as to take up to a minute or two to read. TV shows consist of soap operas with no story-line or plot. Technology encourages isolation between people and plays a large part of people’s dull lives. Bradbury had envisioned a future of this caliber and somehow he managed to get many of these aspects correct or pretty close to correct.