Destruction of the Society
As stated by Heinrich Heine, a significant German poet in the 19th century, “Where they burn books they will in the end burn people too.” Fahrenheit 451, a novel written by Ray Bradbury, describes a future society where books are forbidden. People are not allowed to read books as any books found will be burned by the “firemen”. Instead, people listen to the radio all the time and watch a vast amount of television. As a result, people stop thinking and questioning. In the novel, Ray Bradbury illustrates for the readers that book burning can destroy the society because the values of the society and measures of integrity will be altered.
One of the major principles changed due to book burning is the importance of family,
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Mildred is only one of these quintessential citizens. Likewise, most citizens in Montag’s society spend more time interacting with the television instead of with their families. In short, without real families, people are lacking in actual emotions; consequently, everybody feels contented while living a complacent and empty life. Pursuing this further, Bradbury also provides details of how negligible deaths and suicides have become. For instance, when Montag calls the hospital because Mildred has taken an entire bottle of sleeping pills, only two emergency workers come to the house. According to one of the medics, “We get these cases nine or ten a night. Got so many, starting a few years ago, we had the special machines built... You don't need an M.D., case like this; all you need is two handymen, clean up the problem in half an hour” (Bradbury 13). Due to the high incidence of suicide attempts, specific machines are made to save lives; therefore, no doctors are necessary for these cases. Obviously, the increase in suicide attempts are directly associated with book burning as the only entertainment allowed is meaningless. As a result of this entertainment, the citizens’ awareness of the seriousness of death is