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Fahrenheit 451 Theme

Decent Essays

Fahrenheit 451 is a very interesting novel with many important themes within it. In the second section of the book, titled “The Sieve and the Sand”, the topic of memory is brought up on multiple occasions. In the section, Montag looks to finds Faber, an old man he met years ago, seeking a deeper understanding of the books he had stolen. When he finds Faber at his house, Faber gives him an in-ear device to communicate with Montag Montag and Mildred try to talk about the book Montag stole from the old lady’s house before he burned it down. Moments after they start talking a few of Mildred’s friends come over to watch the “Parlor Walls”. Montag tries to have a conversation but they do not seem the least bit interesting and would prefer to watch something instead. Beside Montag, the women have no interest in knowledge or the past. Bradbury sums up what memory and or lack of it can do when Montag says “Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from making the same damn insane mistakes!” This shows how Montag is one of the few people that sees his world going around in circles, not making any progress because no one thinks to memorize what has …show more content…

His explanation to why books are burned and destroyed furthers this even more. Beatty says that people that read books are “Loaded Guns” and is not a part of the “Equalization” that is the goal of society that the firemen are to carry out. Beatty’s main point behind this being the right way is that he wants even to be made equal and not “Born free and equal, as the constitution says,” yet he is his own enemy in this debate. He reads books himself and can clearly see that he has more knowledge than everyone else. Beatty’s job makes this even more confusing since it is his job to make sure that doesn't happen. Overall, I believe he does make good points, but not nearly enough for the burning of books to be

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