Conformity In Fahrenheit 451

Rebelling Against the Majority “It was a pleasure to burn” (Bradbury 1). Imagine futuristic America where firemen set fires rather than putting them out to save lives. Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 features a dystopian society where the government controls all information, content and distribution, and firemen burn and destroy illegal commodities, printed books. After witnessing cases of censorship and attempts at forcing social conformity during the Fascist Era and the Cold War, Bradbury decided to reveal through his writing, the dangers of such practices. Guy Montag, the main protagonist, is a fireman himself. He goes from house to house to burn illegal books; he never questions his duty—until he meets his eccentric neighbor, Clarisse

“If they give you ruled paper, write the other way” (Bradbury xvii). Juan Ramon Jimenez’s famous saying was used as an epigraph in Fahrenheit 451, setting the stage for Montag’s rebellion against his society. Through Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury highlights the role of experience, emotion, and intelligence for an individual to rebel against an authoritarian regime that controls information flow to the masses. Bradbury’s dystopia illustrates the dangers of restricting information flow to the masses to maintain conformity. In Fahrenheit 451, books are banned and it is firemen’s duty to burn books that are illegally kept by individuals (Bradbury 32). The burning of the books, therefore, destroys knowledge in order to equalize the population and to promote conformity. Through this unique setting, Bradbury reflects the control of information practiced during the Fascist Era and the Cold War by government authorities as tactics to force compliance by the population. For example, on the night of May 10, 1933, German students gathered in Berlin to burn books that were considered un-German (Lippmann). The burnings of “un-German” books were significant, as it promoted the