Fahrenheit 451 Research Paper

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 the book Fahrenheit 451, author Ray Bradbury describes a futuristic society in which it is normal for an average individual to shun and absolutely loathe books. The main character, Guy Montag, works as a fireman, and his job description consists of burning books instead of preventing fires. Television is a major topic in this book, and for the most part, is portrayed as an extremely obsessive and deleterious item. Today, in American society however, television is a much more positive thing, and has a lot to contribute to a healthy, connected, and well informed society.

As human beings with personal struggles, as well as those within society, things that come easy to us are often not valued as much as those we struggle for. This is true because when one achieves a feat he has been working towards, the sense of accomplishment combined withe the achievement is valued. Additionally, anything that comes easily is trivial and often taken for granted. Examples of this can be found in the Civil Rights Movement and the book Fahrenheit 451.

Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, differentiates from the cinematic form of the novel directed by François Truffaut in numerous ways. Bradbury states, “The movie was a mixed blessing. It didn’t follow the novel as completely as it should have. “It’s a good movie: it has a wonderful ending; it has a great score by Bernard Hermann. Oskar Werner is wonderful in the lead. But Truffaut made the mistake of putting Julie Christie in two roles in the same film, which was very confusing, and he eliminated some of the other characters: Clarisse McClellan and Faber the Philosopher and the Mechanical Hound. I mean, you can’t do without those!” Other than the characters in the story, including the score

Short of just 70 years ago, the United States was detached; segregated into communities of race and color. In the eyes of our modern society, this practice was cruel and inhumane, an example of just how much a culture’s perspective can change in time. Fahrenheit 451, a novel written and published by Ray Bradbury in 1953, focused on the consequences of change in a society through the eyes of Guy Montag. In the fictitious story, Guy serves as one of many firemen in the community; rather than removing the fires, they set them upon books, which had prohibited and illegalized. After a series of events that transpired in the novel, Montag would begin to recognize the intellectual censorship caused by the absence of books; beginning his crusade

“ 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.

Why would those in control of a society want to suppress knowledge? People in control want you to believe all of the information they throw at your face. Therefore the information you acquire in school is censored “for your protection”. Fahrenheit 451 is a logical explanation of this and a great comparison to this type of question. The people that are in control, wipe out almost all knowledge and learning so that people are unable to figure out the past or have any understanding of what is really going on.

“Faith is the heroism of the intellect” (Charles Henry Parkhurst). In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist, Montag, is an intellect. In the society he lives in, books are illegal. The government feels threatened by people with the knowledge that books promote. Montag has the infamous job of a fireman, an odd twist on our society’s fireman. Fireman in this time start fires rather than stop them and the fuel for the fires are books. The government attempts to suppress thinkers; people who question orders given, people who question things that most just ignore. Montag’s job easily disguises his secret plots; Montag plans on planting books in fellow fireman’s houses in attempt to bring down this dystopian government. The

May 10, 1933; Nazi Germany attacked Jewish intellectuals. Claiming they needed to “purify” the German language and literature, universities to be German nationalism. A symbolic significance to May 10, university students burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of “un-German” books. Within past history in the book Fahrenheit 451 the resemblance of the two stories relate to how the governments wanted to banish books due to a new education, different than what should be taught (general information) as well as, people rebelling once learning this information.

The world created by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 mostly relates to today’s society in that both societies have banned books, which leads people to become dependent on technology; This dependence prevents people from being a part of the community and thinking for themselves. However, the extent Bradbury portrays the insensitivity towards violence creates an extremely dangerous world, whereas today’s society is more aware and sensitive to violence.

Do you think technology is good or bad? The story of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. is about the future where technology has taken over and is trying you push out the old way of are society. Montag is fire fighter who does the opposite by starting fires to get rid of books. Montag later realizes what he is doing is wrong and tries to make up for it by trying to save the last remaining books. Fahrenheit 451 by ray Bradbury shows just how disasters technology can be by limiting human interaction with one another, taking the creativity and ingenuity out things, and making the way we learn and get information too simple to understand.

In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, we can see a lot of things wrong with the society, things that most people think could happen to us, but is it really that unrealistic? Ray Bradbury didn't think so when he wrote it because he was writing about his own time period, shortly after WWII, but the themes he wrote about are still present today. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury criticizes illusion of happiness, oppression, and loss of self, not only his fictitious society, but our society in real life, too.

“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things blackened and changed” (Bradbury 3). In Fahrenheit 451, firemen burn books rather than stopping fires, instead of striving to become more knowledgeable, people are not allowed to think, special technology is invented to ensure that people don’t think, and their objective in the dystopian novel is to create no other emotion than happiness. Their government uses censorship because they believe that books and knowledge create arguments due to differing ideas and are not significant. Of course there are always a few people who step out, have ideas, questions, and thoughts, but they are always put to death at the slightest suspicion.

In my English class at Capital High School, we recently read the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and we discussed whether freedom is really free. In my opinion it is not. People misconceive the meaning of being free and having freedom. Having “freedom” allows people to think differently than others, it lets people neglect the simple things in life such as books and having access to the internet or technology.

Now at first glance anyone may look at the book and wonder what does Fahrenheit 451 mean? Well Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper catches on fire. This is our first glimpse into Ray Bradbury’s dystopian world in Fahrenheit 451. So, this book was originally published in 1953 during World War II and starting the Cold War, which plays a huge role in what this book symbolizes. The author of Fahrenheit 451 is Ray Bradbury.