In the society of Fahrenheit 451 people do not read books, enjoy nature, think independently or have meaningful conversations. Instead, they drive fast and watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size screens. The main problem is the lack of words and therefore lack of individuality. Books and literature play an important role in the novel, from society’s deprivation of access to books to Montag’s development from passive individual to intellectual thinker.
Captain Beatty, being in charge of the firefighter department is quite aware of the effect books can have on people. Towards the end of the novel Beatty confuses Montag by reciting multiple contradictory quotes from different books. “What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up, and then they turn on you.” (p.51) The reason books are valuable is because they are contradictory, conflicted, and confusing. It means that the readers have to think
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For example during the Rwandan genocide of 1994 the extreme Hutus nationalists called the Tutsis ‘cockroaches’, this suggests they are below them and determines how the people ultimately see them.
During the Cold war, US President Ronald Reagan used metaphors describing the Soviet Union as an ‘evil empire’ and communism as ‘cancer’. These words become more than a figure of speech; they become a tool to affect and influence each individual's thoughts that unconsciously stays in their head with that negative connotation.
At times, words also help people. When Max becomes very ill, Liesel reads to him regularly, as though “the words alone could nourish him” (p.328). When the whole neighborhood sits fearing a bomb, Liesel’s reading keeps everyone distracted enough to ease their fear. Most of all, Liesel’s words help and almost sustain Death itself; he carries her book with him and allows her story to distract him as he