Fahrenheit 451 Quote Analysis

In Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451 Montag and his old friend, Faber, are being oppressed by their own government for supporting the enjoyment of literature, and are taught not to interact with books due. Due to this circumstance, they decide to outsmart the government by planting books in the firemen’s station to turn them against themselves, rather than forcing a change in their society by recreating books and distributing them to the public. Bradbury argues in his novel that, when an individual is overcome with systematic oppression within their own society, and is willing to initiate a change, it would be more effective to use one’s own knowledge of how their society operates within itself, rather than enforcing a change upon it. If

Ray Bradbury furthermore argues that using brain over brawn would more likely create a change within a society, when Montag and Faber are overcome with this same dilemma. This is shown when Montag and Beatty are arguing and repeating literary quotes to one another within Beatty’s dream and Bradbury writes, “And [Montag], quoting Dr. Johnson said ‘Knowledge is more than equivalent to force!’” (103). Bradbury uses this allusion to a real quote by author Samuel Johnson which states, “Knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanicks laughs at strength,” to express Montag’s goals for a widespread change within his own society. It shows how it is more valuable and useful in life to be a man of intelligence rather than one of brute strength. Montag

Faber says “The only way I could possibly listen to you would be if somehow the firemen structure itself could be burnt. Now if you suggest that we print extra books and arrange to have them hidden in firemen’s houses all over the country, so that seeds of suspicion would be sown among these arsonists, bravo, I’d say!” (81) after Montag comes up with a preposterous plan to print books and distribute them throughout the country. Bradbury is yet again suggesting that in order for the two of them to realistically cause the government to rework itself, they need to use Montag’s knowledge of the firemen system and how it works, in order to cause this system to collapse in upon itself. This plan, to plant “seeds of suspicion,” or books, inside the firehouse to turn them against one another, could succeed due to the knowledge that each one of them has. Montag knows how to infiltrate the fire station, and knows how the firemen operate and Faber knows how to get books printed for him and Montag. This would therefore argue that in order to make a change to an oppressive society, one would need to use their own knowledge to formulate a plan, rather than using pure strength to force. When Montag chooses to read a passage from one of his books aloud to Mildred and her