Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury in 1953, is a fictional novel set in the future. The book addresses the problem of a futuristic generation changed by the outlawing of books. The intended audience for the book is teenagers to adults. This intense and exiting novel provides an interesting read, but asks deep questions that we must ask ourselves while reading.
The main character of the story, Guy Montag, enjoys his job as a fireman whose job it is to burn books, and the houses that hold them. Then one day while performing a routine burn, he impulsively steals some books from a house. As he illegally reads these books in secret, he must decide for himself if ignorance less painful than knowledge. When he is caught, he must put his beliefs to the test as he is chased for his life by the government.
The story is a very exciting one that has you guessing until the final page. Bradbury does a very good job of creating moments where you’re pulse quickens and you feel scared. While Montag is chased by a huge robotic mechanical hound, you can feel yourself breathing faster.
“He turned and the mechanical hound was there. It was half across the lawn coming from the shadows, moving with such drifting ease that it was like a single solid cloud of black-gray smoke blown at him in silence. It made a single last leap into the air coming down at Montag from a good three feet over his head, its spidered legs reaching, the procaine needle snapping out its single angry tooth.”(Page 120)
A theme that is developed in the novel is the differences of TV and books. In the world of Fahrenheit 451, TV’s cover parlor walls and are what people’s lives are centered on. Everything they know has been fed to them through this machine. While books on the other hand, make you think for yourself. In this book, people are against books because they create men that can think for themselves, and therefore create more problems. In the book, people believe all men should not be able to think for themselves. In this way they think they can create their version of happiness or “bliss” for all mankind.
“We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind.”(Page 58)
Bradbury writes several things that seem very prophetic. When he wrote the book in the 1950’s, TVs were very small, and cars going 100 miles per hour, or being able to listen to music wherever you go seemed absurd. The book talks about all these things, which are now happening today. Another scary thing is that more and more people only know about what TV show is on, while being ignorant about a nuclear crisis in the world.
Though the imagery in this book was interesting, it was sometimes hard to understand. While this was sometimes frustrating, imagery did help convey the feelings that were meant to be conveyed. Bradbury used many elements from our world today to help us visualize the futuristic world in the book. This is illustrated in a passage written about the firemen of the future.
“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.” (Page 3)
Fahrenheit 451 is an exciting and intense novel. While the book can sometimes be hard to understand, Ray Bradbury wrote a great book about the issue of true happiness. The question we must ask ourselves while reading this book is if we will think for ourselves, or let others think for us. Anyone interested in reading about the predicted problems nearing our society today should read this interesting novel that is in some ways frighteningly prophetic.
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