Fahrenheit 451 Essay

Human beings are naturally curious. We are always in search of better ideas, and new solutions to problems. One of a basic idea of Indonesia has been freedom of thinking and a free flow of ideas. But in some societies, governments try to keep their people ignorant. Usually, this is so governments can keep people under control and hold on to their power. In trying to keep people from the realities of the world, these oppressive governments can end up damaging or even destroying their society.

In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the author creates a picture of a society that resembles our present-day society in a variety of ways. Although a society in which government has total control over its citizens seems to be a little extreme, there are definitely clues that can be seen today that suggest that we are headed in the same direction. Some of the resemblances between the society in Fahrenheit 451 and our society today are the governments’ hypocrisy, the gullibility of the citizens who fully support the government, and the fact that books are becoming rather extinct due to advances in modern technology.

In the book, Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse McClellan is a thought out, important motif. A motif is a recurring object, theme, or item in a literary text that contributes to the plot of the story. Clarisse makes for a good example of a well-written motif.

Ray Bradbury is a classic science fiction/fantasy writer who is best known for his works Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles, and Illustrated Man. He was born Ray Douglas Bradbury on August 22nd, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. His father was a telephone technician, his mother was a Swedish immigrant and his grandparents were newspaper publishers. He lived in Illinois until in 1934, at age 14, his family moved to Los Angeles, California. There he attended Los Angeles High School from which he graduated in 1938. During his time in High School he was a part of the drama club and planned to go into acting and rise into fame, and often roller skating around the streets of LA attempting to spot famous actors. Because the depression left his family with no money to pay for college he pursued no further formal education

“ At a time when books, movies, and the theater are relaxing restrictions and expanding their fields of coverage, Tv still kills shows because of subject matter and story line.” (Newsweek 161). In the 1950s, there were many items and things censored for various reasons. A Dystopian culture is an unpleasant society specifically related to the future. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury chooses to incorporate the individual censorship to reveal the negatives of a Dystopian culture.

“I just want someone to hear what I have to say”. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense” (p. 82). The constant consumption of mindless media leaves the people of the society disconnected from real knowledge and critical thinking. In Fahrenheit 451, where everyone is hooked on mindless media, Ray Bradbury uses the conflict between censorship and knowledge to reveal the theme of the destructive power of mass media on society. To start, Bradbury highlights the dangers of censorship by illustrating a society consumed by mindless media.

Fahrenheit 451 has a society that has many differences from ours. In the book’s society, firemen start fires instead of putting them out. However, Fahrenheit 451’s society also have similarities to modern day society. In the book’s society, people don’t read. Instead they choose to watch television a lot. In modern society, less people are enjoying amazing novels and sit, watch television or play video games all day.

“Nobody listens anymore. I can't talk to the walls because they're yelling at me, I can't talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough it'll make sense. And I want you to teach me to understand what I read.” ― Montag to Faber, pg. 38, Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451. The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury tells a deeply emotional tale of humanity’s possible future. The author states many ideas about our society today and his society during the time he wrote the book, 1953 during the Cold War. One of the primary elements he involved was the loss of human connection. He shows his ideas through technological advancement and the interaction a few of

“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings” is a famous quote said by Heinrich Heine, which relates to the concept of book burning, seen in the novel Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury uses his unique literary style to write the novel Fahrenheit 451; where he brings his readers to a future American Society which consists of censorship, book burning, and completely oblivious families. The novel’s protagonist, Guy Montag, is one of the many firemen who takes pride in starting fires rather than putting them out, until he encounters a seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse McClellan. As the novel progresses, the reader is able to notice what Clarisse’s values are in the novel, how her innocence and

The critique written by Wayne L. Johnson centers around the topic of themes in the novel, Fahrenheit 451. In the first paragraph the thesis of the critique is stated. “In fact, the very improbability of Montag’s work allows Bradbury to maintain a certain detachment in the book, imagination, the authority of the state, individualism versus the value of conformity, and so on, can be developed and explored without becoming either too realistic or too allegorical.”(54) From there the critique goes on to explain the characters of the novel and then on to explain the themes. One of the themes stated in the thesis is, individualism versus conformity. This theme explains Montag’s actions and outcomes of his actions. In the course of the

Postmodernism is a type of reaction/scenario that utilizes modernistic scientific efforts to explain what a possible future reality could be like.In order to understand what postmodernism, is, interpretation is vital. Postmodernism is a confusing area in the scheme of literary movement to most individuals. Taking into account that Ray Bradbury is widely considered one of the most masterful users of postmodernism, books of his such as Fahrenheit 451 became immensely popular among readers everywhere. Credible scholars suchs as Marc Shell even believe that though Bradbury may not have been the first to do it, that Bradbury “invented” postmodernism making it a popular literary movement. Though there are many different themes used in postmodernism, Bradbury often used satire in novels like, Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian, to convey his disdain and disapproval of societal issues such as racism, censorship, and reliance on technology. Bradbury also conveys these opinions through characteristics such as opposition to authority. As stated above, Bradbury is one of the best when it comes to uses

Do you know everything happening in our countries? Do you know what is happening in other countries, on the other sides of the world? Or do you just keep yourself up to date on the latest gossip among celebrities, like what they wore to an awards show? It’s not your fault. It’s a little thing called censorship, which is one of the main issues analyzed in the dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451. The specific warning in the book, which was written by Ray Bradbury, is that, if we aren’t willing to learn new things, we will become afraid of knowledge and the power that comes with it. This is effectively portrayed, because in the novel, the government has led the the entire society to believe that books are evil, and that they corrupt people.

Another theme found in Ray Bradbury’s novel, “Fahrenheit 451,” is life versus death. Life versus death is a dominant idea in the novel, “Fahrenheit 451,” because of the obscured lines between the meaning of life and death. The society portrayed in “Fahrenheit 451” has only a small gap in between the meaning of life and death. A number of people commit or try to commit suicide in the futuristic society because of the creation of blurred lines between life and death. One such example of the obscured lines between life and death is Mildred attempting suicide and not recalling her own actions. Morgan Milburn states that Mildred is “unaware of the real world around her as well as of her own feelings and actions” (Milburn 7). This statement made by Milburn applies to the vast

Similar to Clarisse, the woman’s death also made Montag second-guess the way he views himself and books. On page 49, Montag says, “It’s not just the woman that died. Last night I thought about all that kerosene I’ve used in the past ten years. And I thought about books. And for the first time, I realized that a man was behind each one of those books.

The City Built with Fire Like many countries we have seen throughout history, the country in this book follows many of these same ideas. Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a dystopian country in the middle of a war. The country is violent and backwards featuring firefighters and a government who contribute to limiting the freedom of the people through the use of fire and ignorance. In this dystopia, there are three prevalent features: the burning of books, no freedom of speech or thought, and tolerance of murder. Bradbury uses these three features to, possibly, critique war, technology and communication, and people’s rights.