Fahrenheit 451 Research Paper

“Are you happy?” is a question that is asked in Ray Bradbury’s book Fahrenheit 451, a question that we disregard. This question changed one mans perspective in the book entirely, it changed how he view society as a whole. How do you see your society? Is it good or is it bad? Do you feel as though you are happy in this society? Maybe we are slowly turning into a dystopian society. Becoming dependent on technology and out casting thing like books. Limiting what it is we can and can’t do, even rewriting history. As strange as it is, our world is beginning to mirror several aspects of a distant Dystopian society of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Are we progressing to that type of world?

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

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury that depicts a futuristic American society where books are banned and independent thought is persecuted. Bradbury uses his imagination to take a hard look at a world consumed by technology, and he presents predictions about pleasure, violence and anti-intellectualism that are alarmingly similar to the modern American society. Notably, in both societies people find pleasure in entertainment that is endlessly preoccupying. Second, people are violent and careless. Finally, anti-intellectualism and suppression of independent thought affect both societies, as firemen ban books in Fahrenheit 451 and, in the

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.

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.

Have you ever not wanted to read a book but have to read it for a class assignment well Fahrenheit 451 is a good example of what happens when you don't read. Fahrenheit 451 is a valuable piece of literature because it can tell you what happens when people don't read books like we don’t. It may be what the world will look like in 20 years. It can make people want to read more.

11. Montag’s society programs thoughts so completely that “firemen are rarely necessary”. The firemen are used for burning books, to make sure that no one in the society reads or owns them. The firemen aren’t really necessary because the society already doesn’t read books or seem to care about them. They are in the world of technology and don’t want to gain knowledge or have anything to do with learning new information or facing the real world. Montag’s society programs their thoughts to have fun and be care-free. Books are something they already naturally don’t want to read or think about. This is why the firemen aren’t really necessary.

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

“Well wasn't there a wall between him and Mildred, when you came down to it? Literally not just one wall but, so far, three!” (41 Bradbury). In Fahrenheit 451 Montag and his wife Mildred are so far apart, not by physical space, but by something else entirely. A once sacred bond like marriage is simply a word and nothing more. They share the same house but not the same mindspace. Her head is filled with simple words and silly technological people. She is too blind to even comprehend love. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 there is no such thing as love.

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.

As a child, there are special books that we never will forget. When I was younger, my mother would read the bible to me every night. Joining the wandering group of book lovers, had me choose a valuable book to preserve and memorize. I would preserve the bible for future generations because it gives a message of freedom, tells history, and transformed the world.

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.

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.

In Fahrenheit 451’s dystopian society, the possession of books is considered criminal. A once proud fireman who regularly burned books turned a new leaf and began to understand and value the importance of literature. Multiple characters in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 impact the ex-firemans, Montag, life in a way that changed him forever. Throughout the novel Montag discovers a different outlook and perspective on the society in which he lives and how he perceives books. From a fireman to an outlaw, a few specific characters greatly impact Montag. Montag meets a young woman who perceives the world in a different way which affects Montag’s outlook on society. Also, a retired English professor gave Montag confidence and the comprehension of books. A character close to Montag, his wife, shows him how the loss of importance of books would affect his life . When Montag goes outside, he comes across a young woman who does not seem like the others in the city. Montag begins to talk to her and his life changes in a major way.