Comparing Fahrenheit 451, A Stolen Party, And

Literature, being one of the main resources for young minds, plays a surprisingly large role in the course of their growth. Authors of pieces of literature have beliefs and morals that, whether intentional or not, are incorporated into their texts, indirectly affecting the readers’ mindset as well. This is noticeably depicted in the four texts, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, “A Stolen Party”, and “The Necklace”. In Fahrenheit 451, a novel by Ray Bradbury, an idealistic utopian society is created where curiosity and knowledge are considered dangerous, clearly an attempt by Bradbury to influence the readers’ general viewpoint towards the idea. Animal Farm, a novella written by George Orwell, highlights the corruption and the treachery that comes

In Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse McClellan is anything but the definition of “normal” in Bradbury’s society, which is meticulously molded in order to assure a false sense of happiness. Rather, Clarisse is seen as a “queer” individual and that “queer ones like her don’t happen, often. We know how to nip most of them in the bud, early” (Bradbury 57-58). This quote is said by Captain Beatty, who is undoubtedly an epitome of the community in the so-called utopia. Bradbury’s notable motive for the creation of Clarisse McClellan is to show the audience of a contradicting character and use her as a point of realization for readers about how corrupted their society is. By doing this, Bradbury is also forcing the readers to compare the corruption in the book to the world that they are living in, and to get them to acknowledge the dangers of ignorance. In turn, the readers are compelled to recognize Beatty’s immoral mindset as well as how regardless of her age, Clarisse possesses much more mature qualities than most of the adults in the society. Much like Clarisse, Mathilde from Maupassant’s “The Necklace”, also yearns for something more. In Mathilde’s case, she desired for a wealthy lifestyle and “suffered endlessly, feeling she was entitled to all the delicacies and luxuries of life”(Maupassant

In Fahrenheit 451, Montag becomes aware of the jeopardy that his society has become accustomed to, and becomes conscious of the fact that he “was not happy” and he “recognized this as the true state of affairs.” Montag, a fireman contributing to the people with a career of burning books, sees that he is put under the delusion of happiness, and that it was not a reality. For readers, so far in the novel, Montag had been portrayed as a content person and one that was truly happy and accepting of the dystopian world. When it is revealed to him, and the readers that that is not accurate, the urge to associate ignorance with happiness was no longer in the minds of readers. Complementary to this moment, the animals from Animal Farm undergo a similar when they see the commandments change - “Clover asked Benjamin to read her the Sixth Commandment, and when Benjamin, as usual, said that he refused to meddle in such matters, she fetched Muriel. Muriel read the Commandment for her. It ran: ‘No animal shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE’”(Orwell 30). The animals, beginning to be skeptical of Napoleon’s actions, question the commandments only to find that they have already been changed to the approval of Napoleon. Because the animals did not take any major action against the change, the