Examples Of Dystopia In Fahrenheit 451

Restoring a Dystopia

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, author Ray Bradbury has the readers wondering if the human race is doomed. Protagonist Guy Montag lives in a dystopia where it is illegal to read books; in fact, all books must be burned, and those who are caught reading are dragged off to an asylum. Montag is one of the firemen whose job is not to put out fires, as is the norm today, but to actually start them in any house that contains books. In addition, people who walk around conversing with others and having intellectual conversations are considered to be extremely peculiar, eccentric, and a threat to the stability of the government, and are closely monitored by the government. These rules are implemented because the government wants

He warns us as humans to stop being so defensive and to become more compassionate. In this book, the reason that people start to burn books is because conflicting groups of people each think certain books to be offensive, and the government, wanting to maintain peace, decides to just do away with those books. As stated by Captain Beatty, the head of the firemen “colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo? Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Burn it” (59). Captain Beatty explains to Montag about how they had begun burning books to keep people satisfied with the government. However, there had been too many people who were aggravated by one book or another, which lead to the burning of all books, and eventually, of anything and everything that caused the least bit of unrest among the populace. Beatty also says that since funerals are melancholy and irreligious, they had been eliminated as well (59). He states that anything that causes even the slightest bit of discomfort is restricted, showing that if we don’t curb our dislikes now, it can and will grow into something more substantial, such as the burning and banning of some even or all books. There is another positive effect of not taking criticism personally; we as a whole could become more pleased with each other. This is actually the goal of the people in Fahrenheit 451, which is demonstrated by Captain Beatty when he states, "You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can't have our minorities upset and stirred” (59). The minorities had become sensitive and easily upset, so the country keeps them happy by burning books that they dislike, confirming that getting offended at everything could lead to some significant