Fahrenheit 451 Quote Analysis

Chase Nicks

Period: 6

4. Montag thinks that turning to books “can get (him) half out of the cave,” instead they only cause him to lose his wife, job, and home (70). At first, Montag has an assignment he is called to that involves a woman and books. When Montag arrives at the scene, the woman will not leave the house and instead dies in the fire. Montag thinks, “There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in the burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing”(48). When Montag goes through this, he starts stealing books and trying to understand what life should be like. Montag was later caught by the fire department with books in his house. His house is then burned to the ground.

In the dystopian society of Fahrenheit 451, there are many things that are banned; books, funerals, unstructured quiet time in general. I think the reason for eliminating these items is because their society does not want their people to remember the past or learn about it, so they will not have their own opinions. ‘If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none”(58). Why would the government want their citizens to be “overwhelmed” by questions? The reason that their society eliminated people with books or opinions is because the government wants to show the other citizens what will happen if they try to read books; to show that the government is all powerful. If our society today evolved to this, which some countries are already evolving into, I would definitely just live it out. I think it would be pretty cool at first to see a society like Montags. But I would also miss having a place for quietude and rest. The reason for this is because I think that It would be kind-ov interesting to experience a highly censored society even though we would probably be brainwashed and forget everything about the previous way we lived. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag and his society are heavily censored to prevent people from expressing their

The two major themes of Fahrenheit 415 are censorship and the effect technology has on knowledge. In the novel there are many items that are banned and censored such as books, opinions and the news. A big example of censorship is towards the end of the book when the war has started. Instead of telling their people about the war, the government talks about Montag being chased by mechanical hounds. They even go so far as to kill some random, innocent man and saying that it was Montag. The government says the reason they censor certain things is because they do not want to overwhelm people; because they can’t think for themselves? The other theme is the effect technology has on knowledge. Spending so much time on technology makes people lose knowledge of the past. Montag’s wife Mildred, is constantly getting more addicted to the parlor walls and starts to lose the knowledge of her and Montag ever being together. “Will you turn the parlor off?” “He asked.” “That's my family.” When Mildred says “That's my family,” this is because she is so absorbed by the parlor walls and spends so much time in the parlor that it's almost like family to her