Ray Bradbury 's Fahrenheit 451

My appreciation of a literary work was enhanced by understanding symbol when I read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The science fiction novel is about Guy Montag, a man who is a firefighter. In this time, the job of a firefighter is to burn and destroy all books because reading or having books is illegal. He does his job, day by day, burning books without giving it a thought. As the novel continues, Montag realizes that books are not bad and tries to save them. He remembers a time when fire was not a destructive force; fire was also a source of warmth and comfort. In this novel, fire represents two opposing forces, depending on how it is used. The firemen use it to destroy, but Montag learns that it gives a source of a warm and comforting affect when used correctly.

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, is a prime example of social criticism. The story sets in the 24th century where people race jet cars; the author’s idea of the future. It shows a flawed social structure, controlled by the media and government with banning and burning of books, and suppressing society’s minds from history. Their logical thought was that it would keep society from thinking too much, which in turn would prevent bad thoughts, and to keep them “happy all the time”. The book tells a story of Guy Montag, the protagonist, and his life as a book burner. He was an “instrument” of the government, a firefighter that was used to suppress information from people by burning all books. The characters live in a world where the past is hidden from them. The government has brain washed society and they are forced to contemplate on what is true and what is not. Montag plays a round character that undergoes change throughout the story. He starts as a narrow-minded character that does what he is told, no questions asked. He has lived his life thinking he was happy. As a reader, you will begin to sense a character change in Montag as this paper will analyze certain events that occur in his life representing an individual fighting against conformity. It begins with control of the masses by censorship as society is censored from history by book burning and oppressive technology. The rise of Montag’s character development starts to socially rebel from societies norms causing him

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury states the negative effects of technology. Bradbury illustrates a society where books are banned and people entertain themselves with parlor walls, which is a TV. One of the characters Mildred, who is the wife of Montag, a fireman who is paid to burn books. Mildred is always attached to technology and can’t get away from it. She is usually watching the parlor or listening to her seashell earbuds. Bradbury uses the literary element of indirect characterization on Mildred to suggest how she is selfish and thoughtless, examining the negative effects of technology when one constantly uses it and relies on it which causes obsession and over-reliance towards technology leading one to not think critically

Mankind has been utilizing fire for millennia; it has been used to make food safe, to provide warmth, to illuminate the dark and unknown, and to protect from savage beasts. It is also practical for torturing, killing, intimidating, and destroying. It only takes one glance for someone to see how fire -- as it dances, spearing the sky for but a moment before it is gone, only to be replaced by another flame -- is far too chaotic to be controlled. In the world of Fahrenheit 451, it seems, superficially, that man has conquered fire at last; the home, man’s refuge from everything undesirable in the world, is fireproof. Why, then, are things still burning in this gilded utopia? In this futuristic society where there is no such thing as an uncontrolled fire, fire has been reduced to a mere tool to be wielded by mankind. As such, fire, in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, is a reflection of the true nature of each character in the novel. In the hands of the society and especially the fireman, fire is a tool wielded for fractious and destructive intent. For Clarisse, who is compared to a candle, fire is friendly and inspiring of thought. And for Montag and the other literates hiding outside of the city, fire is a warm gathering place that fosters kinship and the proper ideals to feed a revolution.

When writing the introduction to Fahrenheit 451, author Neil Gaiman stated that “ideas--written ideas--are special. They are the way we transmit our stories and our thoughts from one generation to the next. If we lose them, we lose our shared history”. Gaiman is absolutely correct; especially because what he is saying heavily applies to books. Books are a critical aspect in shaping humanity as a whole, they create and share a network of creative ideas, history, and overall entertainment; to lose books would be like losing patches of humankind’s history. Creativity, history, feelings and thoughts: all of the aspects that make us human...gone. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury illustrates the story of a man named Guy Montag, who struggles to live in a futuristic dystopian society where censorship through book burning is prominent. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses multiple motifs to emphasize a certain idea or convey a message to the reader better. A motif is a recurring subject, theme, idea, or even a physical object that appears in literature. Ray Bradbury’s hostile tone towards technology gives meaning to the reader by depicting the message that technology has the power to completely detach people from their genuine emotions, as well as urge readers to not get too attached to technology because it separates them from relationships in real life.

Albert Einstein once said, "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." Back then there was very little technology that was controlling humanity. Today, phones are captivating societies around the world. Based on this, what will happen in the future? Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, portrays a world where technology goes too far. Throughout the novel, Bradbury proposes the idea of mindlessness of mass culture. It is a warning to societies everywhere because one day that could be the reality. The definition of happiness changes along with interest and care. They no longer care about anything. The definition of knowledge is also changed. They no longer read. This book was written when T.V First came out, and now seeing how technology is driving society today, this book is a cautionary novel. Their happiness, knowledge and mindlessness is all changed due to technology. This may be a society someday.Bradbury proposes warnings about the mindlessness of mass culture

When the secondary characters of a book are written in a unique way than in most other novels, it can bring up challenging questions regarding their lives. This is most apparent in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, where everyone seems happy in a futuristic life without books and instead uses a vast array of technology to occupy their downtime. But when we look at how they live everyday, even though they seem happy, are they really? Most citizens in the novel do the same routine day in and day out, not really questioning why everything is the way it is. It is almost as if they have been brainwashed in a way to make them seem happy, but in actuality they wouldn’t really know compared to our day’s standards. Though they might be happy living in their lifestyles, the people of Fahrenheit 451 are not actually sure of what happiness is, and therefore cannot be happy when they do not know what brings happiness.

When writing the introduction to Fahrenheit 451, author Neil Gaiman stated that “ideas--written ideas--are special. They are the way we transmit our stories and our thoughts from one generation to the next. If we lose them, we lose our shared history”. Gaiman is absolutely correct; especially because what he is saying heavily applies to books. Books are a critical aspect in shaping humanity as a whole, they create and share a network of creative ideas, history, and overall entertainment; to lose books would be like losing patches of humankind’s history. Creativity, history, feelings and thoughts: all of the aspects that make us human...gone. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury illustrates the story of a man named Guy Montag who struggles to live in a futuristic dystopian society where censorship through book burning is prominent. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses multiple motifs to emphasize a certain idea or convey a message to the reader better. A motif is a recurring subject, theme, idea, or even a physical object that appears in literature. Ray Bradbury’s hostile tone towards technology gives meaning to the reader by depicting the message that technology has the power to completely detach people from their genuine emotions, as well as urge readers to not get too attached to technology because it separates them from relationships in real life.

Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury demonstrates a different kind of censorship. He exposes an insidious censorship that is brewed from distraction. The distraction is achieved by the banning of books, claimed to be a step toward equality. But, Bradbury shows that without intellectual freedom, equality is an empty promise which leads itself to totalitarianism and rebellion.

Today, in our society, reading is a crucial part of us growing, and learning. It can cause us to expand our minds, and our thought process. Books can take you anywhere in the world. When we read a book, our mind is in control, and no one can take that away from us. If there were no books, we would not be free.

The people in Montag’s society are taught to fear everything around them. In the futuristic society there is advanced technology for everything, but is not only technology they fear. “So many people are. Afraid of firemen I mean. But you’re just a man, after all…”(5) Since the firemen burn books and the people who have them, everyone is terrified of books and the firemen. They know that these firemen will burn anything in their path. This quote was Clarisse talking to Montag about their messed up society and how she doesn’t go to school because the kids there kill each other. She lives is constant fear of these kids who are ruthless and kill people just as the firemen will. “She was a time bomb. The family had been feeding her subconscious,

In the book Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury strongly criticizes government control and the loss of freedom in a totalitarian government. Every citizen is a thoughtless drone in the community with no sense of creativity or individuality. Bradbury expresses total domination through different types of censorship; the act of burning books, the role of firemen, and outcasts such as Clarisse. As a result, a dystopian society is formed and the citizens have no independence of their lives.

The life of protagonist Guy Montage from Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 would be similar to life without a choice. Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 demonstrates how excessive use of technology affects a person’s relationship. Montage is the protagonist of the novel who is a fireman. Montage lives in a world where his job is to burn books, and initiate a fire. The government is trying to outlaw the use of books in the city. Bradbury portrays this new world through the character of Montage. Bradbury describes Montage’s world where the government is prohibiting the use of books for the sake of their happiness. Bradbury portrays the issues concerning the overuse of technology and its implications on citizens’ and their daily life. The restricted lifestyle, fake entertainment, and abuse of technologies have vital effects on individuals and their relationships with their family members.

Technology has had many great contributions, but is it destroying America as author Ray Bradbury foreseen back in the 1950’s. The intent of this paper is to explain how Fahrenheit 451, which was written over 65 years ago, has begun to come true in some aspects of American society today. The intended audience for this paper is fellow students who have not read this novel, and the professor. Ray Bradbury’s role in Fahrenheit 451 is to help readers understand the dependency of technology, free thought, and governmental censorship. Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451 was written over 65 years ago, but his ideas of censorship, technology dependency, and corrupt government has begun to come true in America today.

Ray Bradbury writes Fahrenheit 451 during a time free thinking seems to be slowly disappearing thanks to the advances in technology such as television and the radio. These advances are becoming the principal vehicle to exercise the imagination, once entertained by the knowledge provided by books. As a child Bradbury learnt about the burning of the library of Alexandria thousands of years ago. He was fifteen years old, and Hitler was burning books in the streets of Berlin. These events from the past and the present inflict sadness to Bradbury, a man who loves books, a man that learns everything with books and libraries. Bradbury is aware that if events like these can happen in Alexandria and Berlin, is just a matter of time to see another library burning, another street with a pile of knowledge burning. Heroes, philosophers, adventurers consumed by the flames at 451 degrees. Bradbury uses an array of symbols in Fahrenheit 451, which together conveys an amalgam of emotions. These emotions are strictly connected to the plot in the story, the dangers that humanity faces if a totalitarian government takes all sources of knowledge away, and free thinkers are persecuted, exterminated.