Ignorance In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

The author of “Fahrenheit 451,” Ray Bradbury, precisely expresses a deep and intense theme neatly weaved into his suspenseful, detailed, and emotional novel. Throughout his novel, Ray Bradbury conveys this theme: Ignorance denotes weakness, whereas knowledge dignifies power, authority and a clear perception of the world, which can either be used to destroy society or can be used to envision a quality, respectable, and connected world of positive change. To start, the beginning of the story supports the central theme by illustrating a society that demonstrates the negative impacts of lacking proper knowledge and thought. Without knowledge, people are weak, unaware, powerless, and useless. For example, in the exposition of the story, Guy Montag,

Because Montag lacked proper knowledge and awareness, the government was able to easily manipulate him into thinking this was the perfect life. At the beginning of the story, Montag did not possess the ability to think for himself, so the government thought for him; the government controlled his mind. This further represents society at a larger scale. Montag was not the only one manipulated by the government, the rest of society was as well. By supporting ignorance, society was powerless and weak; unable to stand up to the unscrupulous greater authority. Another example also occurs at the beginning of the novel when Mildred Montag, Guy Montag’s wife, attempts suicide. Early in the story, Montag arrives home to see his wife soundly asleep, breathing faintly. Besides Mildred, he discovers a once-full bottle of sleeping pills, uncapped and empty. His wife has overdosed on sleeping pills. Two technicians come over and revive the mindless woman. The next day, Mildred woke up and Montag asks her about last night. However, Mildred insists that she couldn’t recall ever doing such a thing. This depicts the inner character of Mildred. Mildred, a woman beaten down by the way her society is programmed, lacked a necessary

For instance, at one part of the story, Montag pretends to be sick to avoid going to work. As a result, Captain Beatty visits the supposedly ill Montag. At Montag’s residence, Beatty provides Montag a lengthy lecture on the history of firemen, and why they burn books. As he speaks to Montag, he refers to books in a negative manner, explaining how books bring unhappiness. Contradictory to what he is explaining, based on the artistic, fluent, and articulate way Beatty speaks in, it can be inferred that Beatty has thoughtfully and diligently read books before. Based on this evidence, readers can see that Beatty is a knowledgeable and well-informed person. With the extensive knowledge he possesses, Beatty uses it to manipulate Montag. He uses his powerful knowledge to threaten and manipulate others into thinking in a specific way, which destroys the fundamental aspects of well-functioning society and therefore contributes to a dystopian world. Another notable example is Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse is a sweet, different teenage girl, whom society labeled as “crazy.” Distinguished by a love of nature and endless curiosity, Clarisse has a deep understanding of the world. She understands the way society functions. With such an advanced understanding, Clarisse is able to use her intelligence to depict the inner characters of people. For instance,