Let me start with an easy math problem. Fire plus books equal ashes. People plus books equal intelligence. Fire plus books plus people equals Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Over the summer, I spent around a week reading this book. Within that week, Ray Bradbury grabbed my attention and made me question my habits of knowledge. Fahrenheit 451 follows a fire “fighter” named Guy Montag, whose job description is to burn every book he can find. Why? Books create alternate realities. Alternate realities can harm a society that runs on the brainlessness of the people. Montag, as a faithful firefighter, burns stories, homes, and lives to the ground. Every action is emotionless and done without protest. Until one day. Montag pondered why people were risking their lives for a couple of pieces of paper. As he opened the book and the knowledge sank in, he became completely overwhelmed. Montag realized that education isn’t a curse or something that deserves punishment. But how can the people who refuse to think to obtain this …show more content…
To put it plainly, ideas created within a story can work their way into conversations to change someone’s thinking. Montag was continually trying to recover books, even putting his life on the line for an old book he barely read. Soon he learned that even a small memory of a story could be impactful. Memories can shift and change, but the general idea remains. For example, if you only read a chapter of this book, you would know that Montag's lives in a brainless society and he wants out. You could fill in the blanks from there: whether if they are accurate or not. How about Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet? What if you can't recall the exact way that they died, but you know that their families were enemies. You can make an inference on what happened, and the general lesson of the story is taught. Specific details don’t matter when you are trying to learn for future