Media Analysis: 'Fahrenheit 451's Sound Of Silence'

Fahrenheit 451 Media Analysis - The Sound Of Silence Throughout the novel Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag goes through a process of growth and realization about the world around him and develops many opinions about the society he is living in. He feels as if he is alone and isolated in society due to his realizations and is angered by the things he is seeing. A song that relates to this story about the dangers of ignorance is, The Sound Of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel which illustrates the ignorance of people and the isolation that comes from being on the outside of society. In total, the song and the book share similar themes, which connect them. This song has themes of loneliness and isolation, which directly relates to Montag and his life.

In the novel, the job of a fireman is to burn books without question (i.e. spreading ignorance) , so when Montag becomes curious and learns more about the history of books, he cannot accept his society anymore and refuses to spread ignorance by burning books. For example, Montag states " And for the first time I realize that a man was behind each one of the books... And I'd never thought of that before"(Bradbury, 49) , which demonstrates that Montag has gained knowledge about the world that many people never even thought of because of the laziness and sloth of society. This also relates to Clarisse, whom Montag believes is ignorant to the real world, but it turns out that he was ignorant the whole time. Similarly, the song states " People hearing without listening. People writing songs that voices never share. No one dare. Disturb the sound of silence.". This illustrates that people are blind to what is actually going on in the world and everyone is afraid of going against this ignorance, Which relates to the society that Montag lives in. In this, Montag is the individual that dares to disturb the silence in order to create

In Fahrenheit 451, Montag collects a bible, which appears throughout the novel. For example, when bombs are dropped he thinks "Part of Ecclesiastes and Revelation. Part of that book , part of it, quick now, quick before it gets away, before the shock wears off, before the wind dies" ( Bradbury, 153) . This is comparing the war that is occurring to the apocalypse in the Bible, illustrating that society is worshiping false Gods (i.e. television) and therefore the end is near. This relates to the lyrics "And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made" (Simon & Garfunkel). This connects to how the people in Montag's society and how they have begun to worship television and forget about connecting with each other, thus creating a God out of their possession and leading empty