In the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the topic of knowledge is one of the main ideas. The main character, Guy Montag, lives in a society where books are banned, and knowledge is taken from people. By doing this, Bradbury shows just how important knowledge is to society. Reading and knowledge are important for society because if you do not know what happened in the past, you will be bound to make the same mistakes repeatedly, which can be dangerous. That said, people will have no sense of self-understanding and understanding of the world. The citizens in this society were made to believe that they were happy and were living in this perfect world, that this was supposed to be normal. Reading and knowledge are an important and essential …show more content…
Not only can conformity be dangerous because of repeating mistakes, but also because people do not have any individuality or self-understanding. When explaining how the group’s system works, Granger says, “...some day, some year the books can be written again, the people will be called in one by one, to recite what they know and we’ll set it up in type until another Dark Age, when we might have to do the whole damn thing over again.” In this, Granger suggests that there will be another Dark Age, like the one that they’re in now, if the ban on books continues. In the novel, there is a big rise in suicide attempts and deaths. This didn’t concern anyone because everyone thought death was an insignificant thing. In the text, the operator said, “We get these cases nine or ten a night. Got so many, starting a few years ago, we had the special machines built.” Similarly, when discussing school and friends, Clarisse says, “I’m afraid of children my own age. They kill each other... Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks.” This shows that death is very prominent in this society and that can be significantly dangerous. Since no one in this society has any sense of self identity, these deaths and attempts at suicide are unlikely; in fact, they are most likely rooted in this very problem. Dark Ages and the rise in deaths can ultimately lead to