More handpicked essays just for you.
Philosophical themes in fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 social issues
Parallel to todays society in fahrenheit 451
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
1. Summary: In this section of Fahrenheit 451, many interesting things happened. Montag kept bringing up Clarisse and what made her special. Mildred did not want to talk about Clarisse because she was dead and wanted to talk about someone who was alive. Montag wanted to learn why he was reading books and the purpose of them.
It all begins on what seemed like a normal day in a normal world. Guy Montag, liked being a fireman, “It was a pleasure to burn.” (Fahrenheit 451, p. 1) However, this in his world being a fireman had a different meaning entirely. A fireman did not help save people or put out the fire they started them.
In Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 Montag wonders a lot thought out the novel on why the old lady loved these books so much she was willing to giver her life for them. It has often been said that what we value can be determined only by what we sacrifice. The old woman was astonished when the firemen enter her home….. ”They crashed the front door and grabbed at the woman though she was not running….. she was only standing, weaving from side to side…her eyes fixed upon a nothingness in the wall....
In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Montag, the protagonist and book burner, battles between the light and dark sides of society, first with Beatty, his boss, and the government and then with Clarisse, a neighbor girl and Faber, an English professor. Montag is stuck in the dark burning books and is ignorant to the world around him. He moves towards greater awareness when he meets Clarisse and is awakened to the wonders of deep thought and books. Finally, he risks his life by trying to save the books.
His contact with a 17 year old girl named Clarisse McClellan, an elderly woman who was willing to die for her books, and an old professor named Faber, help Montag start to question things and begin a transformation that takes him from the rule following, book burner; to an idea challenging, book reader
Bradbury portrays how Montag’s perception of fire and burning books with his personal development changes by the different choices he makes throughout the novel. In the beginning of the book, Montag has a great passion and
(STEWE-2) Besides asking questions about society’s relationships, Montag questions further and starts asking about society’s rules on burning books after he experiences a woman burn with her books. He says to Mildred, “'There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there.'" (Bradbury 48). Montag, before, had blindly followed and enforced society’s rules about burning books.
Montag’s wife is an example of how society reacts to someone who claims to have new ideas. She quickly shuns him, tells him books aren’t people and that do nothing to help. Montag believes the opposite and begins analyzing how big of an impact books would have on society. He challenges group ignorance by claiming that,"Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from making the same damn insane mistakes!”(Bradbury).
’”(Bradbury 108) Montag’s choice will affect the entire society. Bradbury wrote Montag into this situation to show how one choice of one person can change the future. If Montag choses to keep the books, he will make copies and place them in the fireman’s homes. This act would bring down the Fire Company.
Novels flourish a persons imagination and present advances in their independent knowledge. Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 displays a society deprived of novels, leading Montag to the realization of affects novels have on people. Montag fought for what he believed in, the right to read and learn from numerous novels, containing various topics ranging from innocent child books to vulgarity stricken novels. “The School Library versus the School Board: An Exploration of the Book Banning Trend of the 1980s” contains several arguments Montag would agree with, such as, “Even when a book contains language that is not appropriate for everyday use or describes unsavory ideas or feelings, the ability of the book to have a positive impact on the reader or provoke discussion or awareness is not necessarily diminished.” This quote symbolizes the positive viewpoints an “objectable book” most definitely possesses.
The book follows Guy Montag, a fireman who sets things on fire instead of put out fires. He enjoys his job until on one job an old woman decides to burn with her books rather than evacuate. Haunted by her death, Montag becomes confused on why books would mean so much to anyone. He then decides to find out for himself by reading books from a personal stash of stolen books. Montag has a personal revolution; he realizes the dangers of restricting information and intellectual thought.
The 1950s was not only a time of a growing threat of communism and the fear of nuclear war, but it was also a time of increasing satisfaction in the latest consumer product: the television. TVs captivated the American public to the point where books were being forgotten about. Though books were still being bought and sold, some never made it to the shelf because of the growing amount of government censorship. The government not only censored books, but they also censored movies, content on radios, and other creative works. This censorship controlled what the American public read, watched, and heard, which in turn limited the information available to the public.
In Fahrenheit 451, a science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury a man named Guy Montag goes against a dystopian society to pursue happiness, freedom, and knowledge. This dystopian society has banned all books, and firefighters have been transformed into book burners in hopes of creating a perfect society also known as a utopia. Although the ancient Hero’s Journey Archetype may not seem to have a lot to do do with this science fiction novel set in the future, it applies to this book more than you would expect. Throughout the book Guy Montag experiences many steps of the Hero’s Journey Archetype, as he is setting out to pursue knowledge.
Neil Gaiman once wrote, “some books exist between covers that are perfectly people-shaped” (Gaiman xvi). The idea that books can be defined as the sharing of thoughts and information between people reveals a deeper meaning in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist faces a society in which books are censored and, thus, burned. This, according to his definition, means that if books become banned, certain connections between people will, too, be destroyed. Ray Bradbury reveals the theme (the importance of books) through the protagonist’s dynamic character, which comes as a result from his conflicts with society.
Montag internally conflicts with himself as he gradually begins to consider what books truly have to offer. For instance, “A book alighted, almost obediently, like a white pigeon, in his hands, wings fluttering. In the dim, wavering light, a page hung open… Montag had only an instant to read a line, but it blazed in his mind for the next minute as if stamped there with fiery steel… Montag's hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest.”
