Fahrenheit 451 Comparative Essay

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Both Ray Bradbury and Bernard Malamud explain the importance of books and education in ones life by using two extremely diverse techniques. In Ray Bradbury's novel, "Fahrenheit 451," he uses the burning of books to symbolize the absence of knowledge and education in the world. The social theme of "Fahrenheit 451" represents an ignorant society that ignores the significance of important information. In the short story, "A Summers Reading," Bernard Malamud, explains how "fewer and fewer people are reading books" (Malamud 194) by describing the life of a young man who dropped out of high school. In "A Summers reading" the social theme depicts a lazy society that dose not take education seriously. The political theme of both "Fahrenheit 451" and "A Summers Reading" have the same purpose of showing the importance of reading and knowledge. In the beginning of "Fahrenheit 451," Bradbury uses fire to signify the death of knowledge. According to Montag "the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning" (Bradbury 7-8). To put in another way, the firemen …show more content…

In "Fahrenheit 451," The government creates false narratives by trying to limit one's information and knowledge. Beatty gives a speech to Montag describing how "if you don't want to man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him" (Bradbury 64). This shows how they are brainwashing us and trying to make us feel smart with unimportant information. The government considers "it a great danger" (Bradbury 134) for people to know what is really going on in the world. In "A Summers's Reading" it shows how even though they know how important education is, they are still being lazy and not taking it seriously. The political themes are the same in both "Fahrenheit 451" and "A Summers Reading" because the government knows the importance of ones