Fahrenheit 451 Language Analysis

In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury shapes a society that is restricted in speech and thought and centered on technology. In this future, books have been banned. When discovered, they are burned along with the houses they are found in. Responsible for setting the fires are “firemen”. Among them is Guy Montag, the main character of the novel. The elimination of books was merely one step of many to fully eradicate individual freedom of thought and speech. In his efforts to explain to Montag the history of their society’s censorship, Captain Beatty lectures: "The bigger your market, Montag, the less you handle controversy, remember that! All the minor minor minorities with their navels to be kept clean. Authors, full of evil thoughts. Lock up your typewriters. They did”(Bradbury 57). Beatty clarifies that it was the people rather than the government that purged the world of books in order to cease controversy and prevent feud. Opposite to the presumed result, their world is more consumed in war than ever before. The privation of human interaction leaves their society passionless and without true happiness. To compensate for the love lost, their world is drowned in various technologies. Televisions coating entire walls, and the characters inside them, become of chief importance over actual people: “’Will you turn the parlour off?’ he asked. ‘That’s my family’” (Bradbury 48-49). Montag’s wife Mildred entirely disregards her husband’s request as it seems her television characters are of higher value to her than her own husband. Along with her, the

Montag is trying to memorize the Bible and in doing so he tells himself, “Shut up, thought Montag. Consider the lilies in the field” (74). This is an allusion to the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus teaches his followers of morals and spoke against tangible, worldly items. Which parallels completely to the idea of being an individual in society rather than a monotone drone because if people could keep their intellectual property, the society Bradbury has created would become obsolete. Thus demonstrating the dangers of censorship. Multiple other allusions are made by Faber, Montag’s old professor who gives in to teaching him about books. Faber explains that Montag should pity those who burn books and are captivated by the pretty fire because they do not know any better (99). This alludes to the forgiving nature of God in the New Testament, as Faber tells Montag that they don’t know any better, just as people who are not in the light of God do not know that they are doing anything wrong (in accordance with Christian literature). In relation to the New Testament, being forgiving and accepting is what the society in Fahrenheit 451 is lacking, showing that by acceptance people of all different thoughts may coexist peacefully. Faber’s name is actually derived from Homo Faber, or the creator of everything in the life of homo sapiens, therefore depicting him in a godly

Montag begins to question every aspect of his life, “I don’t know. We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. Something’s missing. I looked around. The only thing I knew was gone was the books I’d burned in 10 or 12 years. So I thought books might help.” (Pg.82) Censorship puts Montag in the dark; a place he no longer wants to be. Montag wants to be passionate about something worth fighting for. That passion leads him on a hunt for knowledge, guides him to books, and sets him free.

In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 there are those who defend the cause of language; those who attempt to destroy the value of words and those who are victims of the abuse of power over language and thought, wielded by the government. The fireman, Montag, attempts to use language as weapon against the entrenched ignorance of his dystopian world. Conversely, the Fire Chief Beatty, uses the power of language as a weapon against those who would free humanity from the tyranny of ignorance. In the scene where Montag reads poetry to ‘the ladies’, their subconscious response to the poem ‘Dover Beach’ reveals the capacity of imagery to transform a listener. Mildred Montag and her “bunch” of ladies are

The science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is about a futuristic dystopian society where everyone follows simple rules/norms: don't read books and spend time with their “families”. The families in the novel are also known as the TV’s. Whoever in the novel reads or owns books, gets put down by the hound. Montag, a protagonist in the novel, works as the fireman whom are very violent (like the rest of the society). No one in this society ever think, but when Montag (Protagonist) meets Clarisse McClellan, he becomes to question everything. Bradbury tries to portray that when people become emotionless, they don’t think about their actions which end up being violent. Bradbury’s hound (terrifying mechanical beast that kills who are unlawful) represents a type of police in the society that regulates everything and everyone. Thus Bradbury’s predictions are similar to today’s society in the police forces (which are controlled by the government).

In Fahrenheit 151, a book written by Ray Bradbury, one of the major points of the plot is censorship. In the beginning of Fahrenheit 451, Montag, the protagonist, begins to steal books from the fires he’s responded to and hides them inside his air vent. Beatty, his chief, explains how books used to be and how citizens were horrified and offended by them. Authors began to edit their books, trying not to offend anyone, and as a result, began to create dull and boring books. Society then decided to burn all the books then have more people offended by them. Montag then decides to talk to Faber, a retired professor who team up to start planting reprinted books in houses for firemen to find. After trying to show his wife about the books and how useful they are, his wife betrays Montag by burning his house down. This was society’s way of censorship, by banning books that promote free thinking.

Ray Bradbury’s use of diction creates tones that are hard-hearted, acerbic, and judgmental in Fahrenheit 451 when, the firemen show up to “fix” the old woman’s library. First, Bradbury creates a hard-hearted tone when he writes, “He sapped her face with amazing objectivity and repeated the question” ( Bradbury 33). Beatty slapped a woman to get information out of her. The author’s word objectivity create a hard-hearted tone when Beatty slapped a woman because Beatty did not even feel bad for hitting the old lady. Second, the author’s tone is acerbic when Bradbury writes, “You weren’t hurting anyone, you were only hurting only things! And since things really couldn’t be hurt, since things felt nothing... This Woman might began to scream.” (Bradbury

In Ray Bradbury’s novel, censorship is implemented in an odd way through the dystopian society. Firemen in today’s time are ordinarily known for “those who put out fires,” but the role of firemen in this story is completely different. They are the enforcers of the censorship law and are called when there is a suspect known hiding books in their home. Montag who is the prime character and fireman starts the story with a quote saying, “It was a pleasure to burn” (3). This confirms that firemen in the dystopian society seem to take their jobs as book burners with satisfaction. When Guy Montag awakes in the novel and questions the reasons why books are considered dangerous and to be burned. In Fahrenheit 451,

When I read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, I felt very depressed and angry over the idea of burning books. In Fahrenheit 451 society it is against the law to read or own books. If you do, you could go to jail or be killed. And burning down houses, if there are books in them, is also acceptable. But in real life burning houses and books is not good. Fahrenheit 451 society and our world are very different because they have different laws and rules. Another example of how Fahrenheit 451 and our society are different is that in the book it was not against the law to run over someone, but in our society it is against the law.

Censorship is an issue that civilizations have struggled with for hundreds of years. The question that leaders ask themselves is, “Is censorship the problem or solution?” In Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, he finds the solution. The novel is set in the future where books are banned, and firefighters set houses on fire that hold books. The main character, Montag, is a firefighter that hates his life and his occupation.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is about a futuristic society where books are banned in which Guy Montag is a fireman whose job is to eliminate the knowledge in this society. Until the breaking point of Montag would occur when his house was about to burn because of the curiosity of him wanting to learn more than his society has given him. Bradberry develops Montag in a way where the information that is censored gives him a false premise of understanding everything that he thinks he knows in his society. Until Montage obtains the books that are censored in the society that show the pathway of a true understanding of what reality that surrounds him. Bradberry wants to advocate that true knowledge is only obtained by understanding what lies within reality.

In the novel Bradbury uses censorship to tell the theme of the story. "it took some man a lifetime maybe to put all of his thoughts down, looking around at the world and life, and I come along and in two minutes, boom! It's all over." It shows how he's saying it took someone a long time to write those books. This quote shows censorship is wrong by telling you, you should think before you act.

To begin, Fahrenheit 451 strongly connects to book censorship in England. In the article “Book Burning and Censorship in Revolutionary England” Ariel Hessayon states, “Exercising censorship through book burning- even if not always successful- was an aspect of European ecclesiastical and civil policy for several centuries” (Hessayon 1). In the novel, Bradbury states, “‘Do you ever read any of the books you burn?’ He laughed. ‘That’s against the law!’”

Montag began wondering why his society strongly believes in the burning of books, and why his society is the way it is. Montag puts time and effort reading and trying to understand books that he steals when on duty. This is the beginning of Montag’s quest to uncover everything that is being hidden from him. Montag becomes interested in books and goes to speak to Beatty regarding his job: “Was-was it always like this? The firehouse, our work?”(Pg. 31). Bradbury shows the reader that Montag is hesitant when asking the question, this is obvious in the way Montag was asking Beatty. Montag expresses to Beatty his curiosity about the past when asking this question. Bradbury uses this quote in Montag’s speech to assure the reader that Montag is changing his views and is exposing his curiosity. In the novel Beatty strongly believes in the burning of books, and the fact that Montag chose to open up to Beatty and ask such a question shows Montag’s interest to find out what is going on in the world he lives

Fire is bright and fire is clean.” (Bradbury 57) readers can infer that books are hated in this society as the quote talks about burning everything that is even considered a book. Montag burns his own house down mainly because Beatty makes him, but what if Montag partly wanted to do it himself? If he was going to go down for reading books why not do it himself? Beatty had read books himself in the past but was never caught for it.