Faber In Fahrenheit 451

In the past, dictators censored authors. Stalin burnt books and authors of those books in Russia. When Adolf Hitler was chancellor he burnt the books that he disagreed with in the streets of Germany. These actions that the leaders of these countries left the people in the dark, just like in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451 is about a dystopian society that burns books and hides the truth from people. The job that is responsible for burning books belongs to the firemen. This happened when houses became fireproof. This book has a handful of characters that blindly follow the rules. Those characters live in ignorance and in lies. Life is all about choices and the choice to follow the rules or take a stand when rules are unjust is

Faber choice not to stand up for what is right. He acts cowardice towards the situation. Faber is an old man that helps Montag understand books and what he enjoys in them. Faber and Montag plan to start printing books. Faber tried to help Montag, but Montag got caught in a sticky situation and he had to run away. Faber live in fear of getting his house burnt down and the people that read books become so guilty, they govern themselves. Faber did this to himself too, “That was all there was to it, really. An hour of monologue, a poem, a comment, and then without even acknowledging the fact that Montag was a fireman, Faber with a certain trembling, wrote his address on a slip of paper. ’For your file,’ he said, ‘in case you decide to be angry with me.’"(Bradbury, page 71). Faber is asking to get his house burnt to a crisp, but montag decide not to turn him into his higher ups. This society scares people that break the rules so much that they turn themselves in. This society makes people feel guilty for reading books. In the real world, society does something similar to this, just with opinions and not books. Society is so concerned about being politically correct , it silences people who have opposing opinions. Society can govern and police themselves most of the time. The pressure it can put on people to make them conform to it’s expectation is too much. Being too different is highly discouraged and the same is true

Ray Bradbury uses Beatty to further develop the underlying theme. Beatty blindly defenses the unjust rules of not owning books. Beatty if the firemen captain. He has definitely read loads of books in his life. He quotes several stories and he can tell when Montag is quoting text. Beatty has tons of books under his belt and it is extremely hypocritical of him to burn books. He is a big intellectual. He even states, "Surely you remember the boy in your own school class who was exceptionally ‘bright,’ did most of the reciting and answering while the others sat like so many leaden idols, hating him. And wasn 't it this bright boy you selected for beatings and tortures after hours? Of course it was. We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against." (Bradbury, page 55). Beatty says this due to Montag’s existential crisis. Beatty no doubt has had an existential crisis before Fahrenheit 451. He could have been the intelligent boy when he was in school and he was ridiculed in the eyes of society for being intelligent. For this same reason, this could be why he hates book. They can make a person too smart and when society starts to see them as too smart, society rejects them. If the people in a society have equal intelligence for one person, it can create a disconnect in society. One thing the