Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury utilizes his style and prowess to help enforce an almost excess amount of social commentary into his book, Fahrenheit 451. One of the main focuses of Bradbury’s novel is “censorship”, a very apparent issue during his time, and a main influence he used as motivation to write the novel. In Orwell’s handcrafted dystopia, firemen have been required by law to do the opposite of what they truly do in present day: burn books and start fires, rather than put them out. Ray Bradbury has stated himself several times that he loved books, and it makes sense that in a period of chaos, war, and censorship, Bradbury would be compelled to create Fahrenheit 451 in his own head. Bradbury was inspired to write the novel soon after hearing the news

In the novel, Clarisse provides a sort of “opposite” to the rest of their society, complaining of the TV walls that everyone is hooked on, the seashells people put in their ears; more-so turning to the beauty in nature and what is left of it in their city. Bradbury’s description of the society depicted in Fahrenheit 451 is obvious from the start, as it describes the sheer carelessness in people and their addiction to drugs and technology. Montag himself compares his society to Clarisse, calling them all like “torches”: People were more often—he searched for a simile, found in his work-torches, blazing away until they whiffed out. How rarely did other people’s faces take of you and throw back to you your own expression, your own innermost trembling thought?” (Bradbury, 8). Montag describes Clarisse’s light as a candle, making him feel safe and warm in contrast to the people he just described. Montag’s criticism of society gets harsher and harsher throughout the novel’s

Orwell mainly uses the horse, Clover, and several other animals to try and visualize what it would be like to realize the faults in a totalitarian government. The horse, Clover, is constantly up to Napoleon’s schemes (the writings on the wall) and by the end, is too terrified of her own punishment to speak up about it. Clover begins to realize changes, Orwell stating that “Clover, who thought she remembered a definite ruling against beds, went to the end of the barn and tried to puzzle out the Seven Commandments which were inscribed there.” (Orwell, 76). By the climax of the book, Clover finally comes to sense of the sheer violence and injustice that has become of their own society: “As Clover looked down the hillside her eyes filled with tears. If she could have spoken her thoughts; it would have been to say that this was not what they had aimed at when they had set themselves years ago to work for the overthrow of the human race. These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred them to rebellion.” (Orwell, 97). Clover’s thoughts seem to reflect the thoughts of Orwell himself on Fascism and Communism, ideas that to him, developed into chaos and monstrosity. The lies of an “equal” and “just” society toward the