Knowledge is power in the world and in the world of Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury emphasises this theme, and in the interview he his theme is that the more you know the more powerful you will be. In the interview with Ray Bradbury he says “Teachers inspire, libraries teach. This shows he believes that a book can teach you, but only a person can make you want to learn. In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Beatty has a dream and in this dream Montag says “ Knowledge is power.
Throughout Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag has undergone drastic changes. Through all the conflicts in his dystopian society, Montag evolved from a unemotional and careless fireman to one who will sacrifice for what he cares and believes in. One huge change Guy Montag has undergone is the change in his beliefs. On page 1 Montag states “It was a pleasure to burn” “ Montag was pleased by burning and fire” “It was a special pleasure to see things Eaten, to see things blackened and changed”. Montag was blinded by his role as a fireman that he couldn’t find his true emotion of burning.
In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag is a fireman. A fireman’s job is to burn books, not stop fires. If one was caught with books in their home, the firemen would burn the book owner’s house down. Nobody would expect Montag to read books and get other people to read books, but he does. Book reading starts an extensive line of events, including Montag murdering his boss.
Knowledge is Important Could the world, as it is known today, still exist without knowledge? In Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, the society that Montag lives in is shielded from knowledge. In Montag’s world reading books is illegal to read books because the people are afraid that the books might offend people. However, instead of helping the society, the absence of knowledge has made the people in their society ignorant and unaccepting of change. Knowledge is important because it provides power, educates ignorant people, and helps express individuality.
Guy Montag was fireman and his job was to destroy books. That’s why he states this, “It was a pleasure to burn” (Bradbury 3). This quote explains that he likes burning books; and he has been burning books for 20 years, and his Dad and Grandpa were also fireman. So it’s tradition to be a fireman. However Guy’s attitude changes when a woman burns herself to death because she loved her books.
“‘Who can stop me? I’m a fireman. I can burn you!’” (76). Ray Bradbury’s
In the novel Fahrenheit 451, the main character Guy Montag who believes that television rules and literature are on the brink of extinction. Instead of stopping fire he starts the fire. His job is to destroy the illegal of commodities. When the other characters Mildred attempts suicide while Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag started to doubt himself and begins to questions himself. He begins to hide books in his house and when people had found out about what he was doing, he decided to run away.
Bradbury displays ignorance vs. knowledge by revealing Beatty's true colors and having him describe how its better for the people to be happy and unknowing than unhappy and knowing. As the antagonist, Beatty, meets with Montag, he speaks about ignorance vs. knowledge to montag in a direct way. Beatty articulates about it in the following manner: “Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change” (Bradbury 60).
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury argues that knowledge is essential and can be censored easily if technology hypnotizes society. Beatty is talking to Montag explaining how their society came to be. He gives him this example, “Coloured people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
At the beginning of Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag was a mindless person who went along with society as everyone else around him, hating books. Montag enjoy his job as a fireman, to burn books after every job “he wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a mushroom on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the
Fahrenheit 451 Theme Analysis Sir Francis Bacon once said, “ipsa scientia potestas est” or “knowledge is power” and we often say this to encourage education amongst others. However, the power and knowledge struggle in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a prevalent theme in the book. For example, books and other forms of entertainment of similar substance are banned and even burned regularly because of this. Also, many people (because they don’t know) are unwilling to learn and even go as deep as to fear them. The public fears knowledge of this capacity because the government makes them afraid, but the government is no different- they also fear an educated public that have opinions and to a large extent, free will.
The top three issues that Ray Bradbury had addressed in Fahrenheit 451 was ignorance versus knowledge, advancement of technology, and censorship. Bradbury had focused on ignorance versus knowledge because he feared that people are becoming ignorant. He was trying to draw attention to the fact that when societies do not read books they are becoming ignorant because books contain knowledge. He presents this in F451 by showing that when the firemen burn books they are depriving everyone of knowledge thinking they are promoting the society. In reality, though they are just being ignorant.
Humans are curious creatures. Ever since humanity started, we always looked for new things to explore in order to develop new theories and advance in life. Some governments in our modern world encourage knowledge others, promote ignorance so they can control society and impose their laws without anyone protesting or questioning them. The universe created by Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 illustrates the theme of combat against an ignorant society, where knowledge is discarded and where everything is controlled by the government. The author was able to illustrate this theme by using the main character’s description and evolution, the setting and finally symbolism.
Some say the most important thing in life is knowledge. In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the protagonist is Guy Montag, who is a firefighter that burns books. Montag is faced with enormity and the complexity of books for the first time, he is often confused, frustrated, and overwhelmed. At times he is not even aware of why he does things, feeling his hands are acting by themselves. Montag has certain physiological, sociological, and psychological traits that make him so unique.
How Powerful is Knowledge? As once said by Francis Bacon, “knowledge is power”. In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Montag finds out the power that comes with knowledge. Montag receives knowledge, which causes him to question everything he knows, from his happiness to everyone around him. He realizes that virtually the entire population is ignorant and just think that books are a kind of poison.
