Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury in 1953, tells the incredible story of a dystopian future where everything is censored. There is only one source of media available to the public and all books are illegal. The main character, Guy Montag, is a fireman who has always followed the status quo. A fireman’s job is to burn down houses that have books in them rather than put fires out. Montag’s life changes when he meets a young girl named Clarisse while walking home one night. Clarisse does not act like the other kids her age. She questions society and why things are the way they are. The things she says and the questions she asks are insightful and make Montag begin to question his way of life. When Clarisse asks a question that causes Montag to evaluate his relationship with his wife, his way of thinking starts to change. One day, while his fire squad is burning a house, he steals a book. Not knowing how to understand the book he has, he contacts a secret expert to help him. Montag’s newfound passion for reading and change leads him to blow his cover and results in him running away forever.
Bradbury creates fascinating and unique characters. Although he does not spend much time developing the characters, he does create conflicts within their personalities. For instance, the main antagonist is the chief fireman who hates books and believes that they are no good, yet he constantly quotes them. Montag’s wife is always very happy and loves to have fun, but she has bouts of sadness, and it is unclear whether or not she tried to kill herself. The writing style Bradbury uses in this book is very interesting. He throws you into the middle of an event and then explains what had happened. An example of what this looks like is, “The blow was quick. She started running. As she turned the corner she looked back at the man she punched in the nose”. Although it made it difficult to understand, sometimes it was an interesting change of pace from what you normally see.
This book has lasted incredibly well throughout the years. Bradbury often mentions the people in the book not being connected with anything and living loveless lives. He also describes the ongoing wars in the world and electronics that would have been unheard of in the 1950s but are everywhere today. This creates a world that is very close to the one we have today. In the book, it is revealed that the reason books were banned and the people were sheltered from the world was because people started to lose interest in literature. They just wanted to watch TV and receive fast entertainment. Eventually, the government took away what nobody wanted in the name of keeping the people happy. It was said that the contents of the books would make people think and be sad. This is the path that America is on today, with more and more people losing interest in books and turning all of their attention to visual entertainment. My explanation really does not do this book justice. There are so many layers to this book and I can not explain them all in a single blog post. I believe that everybody should read this book to warn them of the danger our future holds if we do not change the course we are on.
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