Freedom Is Not Free

Fahrenheit 451- Constructed Response In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the Old Woman, Faber, and the Hobos all were characters who influenced Guy Montag to develop the theme of books possessing power. To begin, in the story, the Old Woman clearly expresses her yearning and captivation, which guided Montag to comprehend the competence and truth behind books. For example, the Old Woman was found having books and her house became a victim of the firemen’s occupation. A quote from herself in the text, “‘You can’t ever have my books,’ she said”

Many people talk about how the world is slowly caving in as people are desensitized emotionally. Opposers suggest that it is technology’s fault for sucking a person’s mind into oblivion twenty four hours a day. However, it is the people themselves who are going to bring about their own destruction. In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the actions of the public perfectly exemplifies a worst-case scenario of the future coming to mayhem. In this world, books not accepted by the law are burned by “firefighters” so that everyone is taught the same information. Nobody strays from the “truth”, and this way, everyone is treated equally. There is no nerd and there is no bully. The public is encouraged to listen to live streams of people talking in headphone devices called seashells. Yet for one man in particular, Guy Montag, he struggled between fitting in with the public or pursuing an “itch” he has always had. These feelings started when he had a short talk with his neighbor, Clarisse McClellan. In school, Clarisse has always been seen as an outcast, yet by Montag, her strange facts of realization intrigued him. She knew curious information that he did not, and this made him angry. It was not until she mysteriously disappeared that he really started to understand the depth to her words. She knew more about life, and he was determined to find the same information in the forbidden books. Ironically, Montag was a firefighter, but he

The society in the novel Fahrenheit 451 uses censorship to eliminate one’s feeling of offense or uncomfortableness just like it is used today in America. Within the novel the society presents censorship greatly through the burning of all books; owning books is illegal. Firemen within this novel do not put out fires, but

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

In Ray Bradbury’s novel, censorship is implemented in an odd way through the dystopian society. Firemen in today’s time are ordinarily known for “those who put out fires,” but the role of firemen in this story is completely different. They are the enforcers of the censorship law and are called when there is a suspect known hiding books in their home. Montag who is the prime character and fireman starts the story with a quote saying, “It was a pleasure to burn” (3). This confirms that firemen in the dystopian society seem to take their jobs as book burners with satisfaction. When Guy Montag awakes in the novel and questions the reasons why books are considered dangerous and to be burned. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag had said, “There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” He realizes that if someone dies for books they must be doing something right.

Fahrenheit 451 is a book published by Ray Bradbury in 1953 set in the 21st century. The protagonist, named Guy Montag, has the job of a fireman who burns books which are illegal to obtain or read. Montag usually has the easy job of burning houses that contain books while the police would come beforehand and get rid of anyone living there. This lets fireman like Montag not have to deal with human interaction and emotion. In the book, Montag's firemen crew is called to burn down a house, but they appear before the police arrive. A lady is still in the house gathered with her books refusing to leave. Before anyone can make her leave, the lady commits suicide by burning herself with her books. Montag starts questioning his society and wonders if books are bad, why would someone die for them. Montag starts reading the books that society wanted to burn. He starts to learn things and the more he reads, the more he wonders why people aren’t allowed too. Bradbury’s 451 characters all symbolize different realms of this futuristic, book burning culture, and the masses are content with the illusion of happiness they have created for themselves. In many ways, Bradbury predicted behaviors that saturated much of modern American culture. As new things are found to be diagnosed, people become obsessed with finding the fastest and easiest ways to feel better causing doctors to overdiagnose and overmedicate people of all ages; therefore, causing America to develop a dependency to pharmaceutical drugs.

Freedom is defined as the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement. It is the power to determine action without restraint and the exemption from external control, interference, and regulation. Americans, these days, commonly regard their society as the freest and the best in the world. Their understanding of freedom has been shaped and based upon the founding fathers’ belief that all people are equal and that the role of the government is to protect each person’s basic “inalienable” rights. The United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights assures individual rights including freedom of speech, press, and religion. America has changed dramatically from the country our founding fathers discovered. Some could even argue that

In Fahrenheit 151, a book written by Ray Bradbury, one of the major points of the plot is censorship. In the beginning of Fahrenheit 451, Montag, the protagonist, begins to steal books from the fires he’s responded to and hides them inside his air vent. Beatty, his chief, explains how books used to be and how citizens were horrified and offended by them. Authors began to edit their books, trying not to offend anyone, and as a result, began to create dull and boring books. Society then decided to burn all the books then have more people offended by them. Montag then decides to talk to Faber, a retired professor who team up to start planting reprinted books in houses for firemen to find. After trying to show his wife about the books and how useful they are, his wife betrays Montag by burning his house down. This was society’s way of censorship, by banning books that promote free thinking.

“There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches”. This quote was put into words by the great author, Ray Bradbury, explaining his point of view that books are useless and could be burned in many ways, and lack of knowledge should occur. Fahrenheit 451 is one of Bradbury’s famous dystopian fictional novels that were published in 1953, which showed lack of knowledge as one of its concepts. Lack of knowledge exists throughout the novel because firemen burned books, people of the society had no time to think, and the society relied on technology more than anything else.

Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, is a dystopian novel about a society living under the concept that no one should be sad, and this goal is achieved by mandating all the firemen to burn books. Firemen being ordered to burn books seem strange, but books have the ability to make people sad, with the ideas that are in them, however, this is a misconception that the characters of Fahrenheit 451 have. The government wants everyone to be happy, and by banning books, the government thinks they are doing the right thing. The author, Ray Bradbury, is explaining that the government banning something as an attempt to solve a problem actually makes the society suffer more.

In Fahrenheit 451, owning and reading books is illegal. Members of society focus only on entertainment and speeding through life. If books are found, they are burned and their owner is arrested. If the owner refuses to abandon the books, as is the case with the Old Woman, he or she often dies, burning along with the books. People with interests outside of technology and entertainment are viewed as strange, and possible threats. In this novel, censorship plays an enormous role and is noted to be the most important theme through the actions of the people and the reason why the banned books in the first place.

Fahrenheit 451 is one of the hundreds of books that contains multiple instances of social commentary. In the novel, Ray Bradbury critiques the citizens as well as their home society, which refer to the censorship the government imposes on the society. Notwithstanding the possible effects, the citizens’ minds drastically change due to the amount of brainwashing they received throughout the years to destroy all of their community’s past. Initially, we can see this when we read that the firemen are completely different than what we know today in comparison to what they formerly were. Firemen now burn houses that carried traces of books on fire to substitute the old style of extinguishing already lit fires. Little do they know that what they’re doing has a lasting impact on the people of their communities.. We see this when Montag ultimately realizes why they burn the books after talking to Clarisse McClellan, the young, perfect-looking woman that Montag finds waiting outside of the fire station one night. Montag couldn’t let anyone know what he was thinking or doing unless he wanted his life to brutally come to an end. Bradbury grew up during the times of censorship as well as the technological advancements. With these changes, a lot of the people worried about the lives of their people, Bradbury consisting of this population of people. He wrote this Novel to demonstrate what life would be like if these changes grew out of hand. During the time Bradbury wrote the book,

When I read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, I felt very depressed and angry over the idea of burning books. In Fahrenheit 451 society it is against the law to read or own books. If you do, you could go to jail or be killed. And burning down houses, if there are books in them, is also acceptable. But in real life burning houses and books is not good. Fahrenheit 451 society and our world are very different because they have different laws and rules. Another example of how Fahrenheit 451 and our society are different is that in the book it was not against the law to run over someone, but in our society it is against the law.

In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury gives a glimpse of a future dystopian society. Guy Montag is a fireman who lives in this isolated society, where books are banned due to the fear of free thinking. And Fireman’s job is to burn any books that come in sight. People in these society are emotionless, they don’t read books or question about what is going on around them. Instead, they spend most of their time watching TV and listening to the radio. Government aspires a perfect society where individuals are not allowed to read books, have cultivated conversations or complex thoughts. Whoever fails to follow the rules or goes against them, eventually gets killed. Bradbury depicts a society in which books are burned as means to destroy knowledge.

Today we accept that freedom is a basic right human right but what exactly is freedom. 1On one hand, there is physical freedom. People who are not imprisoned or enslaved are free. On the other hand, there is freedom as a the right to act, speak or think what you want. People cannot reach their full potential if they are not free in both senses of the word.