Fahrenheit 451 Part 1 Analysis

The passage I chose comes from the beginning of the book Fahrenheit 451, in the section, “The Hearth and the Salamander”. This passage takes place in the early stages of the book when an alarm, Guy Montag, the protagonist, and the other firefighters to an old house owned by an old lady. The old woman refuses to abandon her home and insists that she wants to die among her books. She lights a match and burns herself along with all her books. During the encounter, Montag steals one of the woman's books and takes it home with him. When he gets home, he is shaken by the woman’s death and very nervous about his illegal possession. Montag is a third generation firefighter in his family,

“There must be something in books, something we can imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”(Pg. 51) Main character Guy Montag is a servant to a society that is controlled by censorship and the fear of knowledge; Montag has spent his life burning books, to prevent the spread knowledge. But a series of events cause Montag's mind to change, and result in him breaking free from his society. The internal struggle of dynamic character Guy Montag, as to whether he should go on believing the lies his society has told him, or risk his life for something as simple as words on a page, brings readers into the corrupt society of Fahrenheit 451. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 author Ray

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).

Book-burning is the first thing that is explained about this future based society of Fahrenheit 451. Burning books is the obliteration of the single thought on paper or in one word- censorship. Books are considered evil because they make people question and think. All intellectual curiosity and thirst for knowledge must be quelled for the good of the state — for the good of conformity. Without ideas, everyone conforms, and as a result, everyone should be happy. When books and new ideas are available to people, conflict and unhappiness occur. Some of the many different motifs in the novel Fahrenheit 451 are conveyed through the use of various sardonic lines and connotations planted throughout the book. On the matter of technology and modernization it explains how TV reigns supreme in the future because of the "happiness" it offers. People are content when they don’t have to think, or so the story goes. TV aside, technology is the government’s means of oppression, but also provides the renegade’s opportunity to subvert. Rules and order is another popular topic written into the book. It is stated that “All books can be beaten down with reason.” This was said by Captain Betty, a quote ironically coming from a book itself. Much of the restrictions on the general populous are self-enforced. The government has taken away the citizens’ ability to dissent and marred all dissatisfaction with a cheap version of "happiness," a.k.a. TV. This means

The dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 written by author Ray Bradbury in 1953, shows what he speculates the fate of society to be. Fahrenheit 451 takes places in the corrupt United States when people no longer read books and are satisfied only by entertainment. In Fahrenheit 451, the fire has been perceived in many different ways by the main character Guy Montag, once a fireman. Fire in Fahrenheit 451 represents both rebirth and destruction. Mythological creatures, such as the salamander and Phoenix have influenced the change in the perception of fire.

“There is something bigger than fact: the underlying spirit, the mood, the vastness, the wildness,” Emily Carr explains during an interview. Carr explicates a compelling idea: Works of literature contain a sub-meaning or an underlying meaning. These sub-meaning emerges in the bestselling science fiction book written by Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury expresses sub-meanings in his text by utilizing character foils. Through the character foil displayed in the fictional personas, Montag and Beatty, Ray Bradbury elucidates three main ideas: contradicting viewpoints will unfailingly exist; choices define a person; to choose knowledge is greatness.

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.

1. I think Bradbury chose the symbols the phoenix and the salamander because they are both animals associated with fire, a theme in the book. in the book the salamander symbolizes the firemen who burned houses that owned books by starting fires. A salamander is able to survive fires. The phoenix represents the “rebirth” of society. The society began from settings book on fire to people filled with curiosity, Clarisse McClellan and Professor Faber. The phoenix is known for its reincarnation from fire to one’s ashes, like the rebirth of society. Clarisse wasn’t like other people in her society, she was considered “anti-social”, which was actually considered social in her society. She asked questions about things, and was considered crazy because she was curious. “I like to smell things and look at things, and sometimes stay up all night, walking, and watch the sun rise.” (Bradbury 69). This quote shows that Clarisse was considered abnormal in her society.

In this central passage the author reveals a lesson to be learned. The author isn’t necessarily applying to books in this sentence but he is pertaining to people. A few paragraphs before, Montag tries to read the men’s faces, but one man catches him and says, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” What this man was trying to tell Montag was, don’t judge people by how they look but by how they act. This passage appertains to the story as a whole because through out the whole story Montag had a tendency to judge people by their appearance. For example, when Montag met Clarisse he judged her a bit on her how she looked (it wasn’t clearly stated in that passage, but I used clues from how the author wrote it.) This passage is not only intended for Montag,

At the beginning of the book, we were asked to define speculative fiction. I defined speculative fiction as, "The genre of science fiction fantasy and horror. " Even after researching what speculative fiction was, I still did not have a clear understanding. After many class discussions, I was able to grasp a better understanding. I would define this genre in which it contains basic elements of science fiction mainly because of the setting that the book takes place in.

‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ and ‘Fahrenheit 451’ are both dystopian novels published just after the end of the Second World War. ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ by George Orwell is set in ‘Airstrip One’; the ‘future’ England, which has become a totalitarian government that persecutes all individualism and independent thinking as ‘thoughtcrime’. ‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Ray Bradbury however, is set in a future American society where books are outlawed and any found are burned. Both novels explore how governments can oppress their citizens by propaganda, such as the Big Brother posters everywhere, which are meant to give the citizens a feeling of protection, and also denying them the right to knowledge and individualism.

My eyes widen as my dad hurtles past me in his neon green skis. I cringe as he accelerates towards the end of the slope - I know he’s going to wipe out. My dad couldn’t seem to make his skis face inwards in a triangle to slow down. Like I expected, his arms fly through the air, and he plunges into the snow. I can’t resist laughing as I make my way down the slope and help my dad up. At the time, I only thought about how funny it was, but looking back, I realize it contains an important lesson. When I was younger, I believed adults were always right, that they always knew what to say and do. Thinking about this memory, I realized that wasn’t true - adults are just as human as kids are. This knowledge has helped me understand that I can’t expect adults to succeed at everything just because they are adults. In Fahrenheit 451,

Fahrenheit 451 was taken place in a futuristic dystopian society where books were not allowed. Media then replaced books as a form of censorship in order to avoid self-thought throughout the masses. Mildrid, Montag's companion embodies both the shallowness and mediocrity of the society. She has immersed herself absolutely in an electronic world, detaching herself from Montag who commences perceiving the world they live in in a new light. Clarisse is considered an odd individual by her society's standards.

If books are illegal in a dystopian future and must be rid of, there will be people who will think what they are doing is right while few think it is wrong. Fahrenheit 451, a novel by Ray Bradbury, talks about a dystopian future where books are illegal and are to be rid of without any questioning. Many go with society and let the books burn without hesitation while few minorities hide from the world while hiding books from the sight of firemen. In Fahrenheit 451, it shows that everybody has the freedom of expressing their own thoughts and opinions, people have the ability of choosing what is right and wrong but few are forced to choose one such as a fireman.

In the texts, 1984, written by George Orwell, and Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, the concepts of totalitarianism and censorship are addressed throughout in various ways. Both texts are of dystopian fiction, set in post-nuclear war nations, although they are somewhat of a different nature. The concepts of totalitarianism and censorship are addressed throughout the texts throughout the exploration of the issue of ‘knowledge is power’, the use and abuse of technology, manipulation and the desensitising of society. Although these are mentioned in both 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, they are fairly different in the way they are approached by each totalitarian government, as the government in 1984 is much more severe in the way each of these issues are dealt with in the text.