John Dos Passos once said, “Individuality is freedom lived.” The root of individuality lies in freedom. Without freedom, there is an inability to think for oneself and share one’s ideas. In a society where this freedom is lacking, people will not think for themselves and submit to whatever rule is enforced over them. In Fahrenheit 451, the government attempts to control freedom as a means towards reaching a perfect society. The “perfect” society that is created, comes at the cost of individuality. In Ray Bradbury’s, Fahrenheit 451, the individuality of the citizens is threatened by the amount of government control in their lives, and can be seen through the Utopian goals, the government punishments, and the citizens’ conformity in response to this.
The Utopian goals that the society holds limits the individuality of the citizens. Their attempt to create a controlled environment leads to more government control than necessary. The biggest rule that the government enforces is the burning of books. On the surface this may seem like a simple rule, but essentially, this is the government controlling the knowledge that is filtered through the citizens. “Each man the image of every other; then they are all happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against” (Bradbury
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The novel exploits human desire for the now and the easy, critiques human dependency on technology and the media, and shows the effects of extreme government control. This causes the reader to examine their actions from a different perspective. Fahrenheit 451 was also written to show the importance of knowledge. It causes the reader to think of valuable questions about the need for the information located in books. Ultimately, knowledge is power. It is a way to share thoughts between generations and record the history we have created. Losing books would mean losing history, creativity, individuality, and