Fahrenheit 451 Spurious Analysis

“Critical Evaluation” is an analysis of Fahrenheit 451 written by Laurence W. Mazzeno. The source is located on enotes, a free academic website for English literature. The source contains an overview of the novel, understanding its contents, exploring its controversial elements and comparing and contrasting it to other novels written by Ray Bradbury. The source critically analyses Fahrenheit 451 leaving no room for bias. The source can be verified as academic as the website; enotes is used by teachers and students worldwide. The tone of the essay seems to be towards an older audience. The essay also compares Fahrenheit 451 to evens in WW1 and WW2. Fahrenheit 451 written in 1953, the after effects of the two world wars had a strong influence

The theme of knowledge vs. ignorance is present in the differences between Mildred and Clarisse. These foil characters are a perfect example of how both knowledge and ignorance are displayed in Montag’s society. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Mildred explains the new parlor wall technology after Montag tries to convince her that she overdosed on pills the night before, “Well, this play comes on the wall-to- wall circuit in ten minutes. They mailed me my part this morning. I sent in some box stops. They write the script with one part missing. It’s a new idea. The homemaker, that’s me, is the missing part. When it comes time for the missing lines, they all look at me out of the three walls and I say the lines” (Bradbury 17). As presented in this piece of text, you can see that the technology plays a huge role in MIldred’s life and often consumes her, distracting her from the things that truly matter. Throughout the novel, the society’s reliance on technology leads to a devastating chasm of ignorance, but others in the society refuse to conform to their piers ways. Clarisse McClellan is a great example of knowledge from the novel Fahrenheit 451. When speaking to Montag about how others believe she is “antisocial” because of her “unusual ways”, Clarisse says, “I rarely watch the ‘parlor walls’ or go to races or Fun Parks. So I’ve had lots of time for crazy thoughts, I guess. Have you seen the two-hundred-foot-long billboards in the country beyond town? Did you know once billboards were only twenty feet long? But cars starting rushing by so quickly they had to stretch the advertising out so it would last” (Bradbury 7). Though Clarisse is a part of a society full of distractions, she doesn’t let those things take away from her inquisitive personality. Through her short amount of time in the story, she teaches Montag to look for the details and to absorb as much knowledge as he can because in this society, because it is very hard to come across. There are many other ways that knowledge and ignorance are presented in Fahrenheit 451.

In both Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Vonnegut’s “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, the authors show major concerns about the future. Bradbury’s major concern is the misuse of technology that leads to the corruption of society while Vonnegut’s major concern is overpopulation and the lack of natural resources for the future. Both authors show concerns that can turn out to be real if people do not do anything about the environment and about technology.

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.

Sandy Hook Elementary School. San Bernardino. Paris. What do all of these places have in common? They fell victim to unpredictability. Mass shootings are not new to our society, but they are still a devastating problem that should not exist any longer. Mass shootings connect to the novel, Fahrenheit 451, through both the unnecessary violence and the absence of humanity that are evident in the novel. Mass shootings are a devastating problem in our society, and now their numbers have escalated to a new level. This change reflects how both our society and our humanity is beginning to crumble, solutions like banning unnecessary and excessive fire arms are currently being enacted.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a novel that illustrates what could happen to our society in the future. The novel portrays a society in which books, excluding comic books and other simple technical books, are banned and burned for the good of the society as the people believed. The books are seen as a source of unhappiness and, therefore, the society has decided to Ban them and put the fireman in charge of maintaining the censorships. I believe that books are not only banned because they make people unhappy but because they make people unequal. I believe that censorship of books is indented to make everyone in the society equal.

“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.

In the society of Fahrenheit 451 there is no meaning of books to the people. Ray Bradbury describes that they think books are useless and they give people pain and awful feelings. The reason for them to think that is they are missing three things that a society needs to read or understand a book. A society needs quality of information, leisure to digest it, the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the first two.

states that “his main interest today was to uphold the Southern Way of Life and no niggers and no Supreme Court was going to tell him or anybody else what to do … a race as hammer headed as … essential inferiority … kinky wooly heads … still in the trees … greasy smelly … marry your daughters … mongrelize the races … mongrelize …. mongrelize” (Lee ?). Jean-Louise becomes physically sickened, unable to grasp how those dearest to her could associate themselves with people who spew such filth, vulgarity, and an openly biased hatred towards others. It is unfathomable how Henry and her father, especially her father, could have adopted such views in the short while that she was away. However, as she sees how widespread these feelings are, and the countless people

In Fahrenheit 451 information, independent thought, and freedoms are restricted. The citizens are not allowed to own, possess, or read books. They are kept busy by a plethora of distractions that prevent them from having any ideas of their own. As demonstrated by Mildred, people's attention spans are sufficiently shortened by the technology they are surrounded by, preventing them from seeking any information.

The lack of action to fight for their freedoms is concerning for both speakers in these examples. In her article, Paretsky addresses the amount of restrictions the government has put into today’s literature. She identifies the fears authors , like herself, have when they decide what to put in their books. She warns our society to not ignore the government taking our liberties. Paretsky indicates how even in today’s society it is very hard to fight for our freedom, and risk going to “prison” if we have the courage to do so. In Fahrenheit 451, Faber tells Montag about his own silence when their society began to banish books from their world. He explains that he was “one of the innocents who could have spoken up and out when no one would listen

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.