Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a both a prophetic story for the coming generations as well as a reflection on the time in which it was written. A time when Senator McCarthy promoted fear and hatred. A time when new technologies emerged and TV was overtaking literature. A time when censorship wanted to rid the public of things that could corrupt or present a different world view in the fear that it may mold the public towards said view. Bradbury’s presentation of books as an object of changing and molding a mind for the greater good stems from how he was raised. When Bradbury was a child he lived for books. As Jonathan Eller says in his piece “The Story of Fahrenheit 451”, “The printed word seems far more real to him,” so it would make sense that he would write something in their

Bradbury, according to Mr. Eller, was greatly affected by the burning of the Library of Alexandria. To him the knowledge lost in that fire was destructive to society in general. One of his main beliefs as a child was that if you “burn the book, [you] burn the author, and [if you] burn the author [you] deny our own humanity,” (Eller) his theme is evident in Fahrenheit 451. Montag begins to question the point of burning books and begins hiding many of them in his own home. Bradbury’s philosophy is depicted in his description of the martyr woman who burned with all of her books. He described her as “spoiling the ritual” (Bradbury 34) and in a way she is a symbol for the authors targeted in burning books. Her and her books are inseparable. Montag attempts to make her move but she doesn’t budge, saying “The woman knelt among the books, touching the drenched leather and cardboard, reading the gilt titles with her fingers.” (Bradbury 35) Montag is greatly affected by being forced to execute her amongst the books. He even attempted to drag her away, but an author simply can’t leave their own books. In a way Montag gains a