Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451 is not only the temperature that paper combusts but also the book that shows flaws in societies that are not just dystopias. Ray Bradbury includes so much symbolism that this book is chalk full of it. In the progression of the book, Montag was awoken from a pitiful lifeless sleep and this is a story that takes the reader through the progress of his expedition. At first, he is just talking to his new neighbor Clarisse that opens his eyes to different things in the society that are wrong or should be changed. He then starts to change his ways of showing people his books that he has taken from different burn sites. The other firemen go through this stage and they try to get him to just be clean, but he reads poetry
…show more content…
knowledge and the happiness that is acceptable in the community. The first theme that is prominent in the book is ignorance vs. knowledge because the whole societal normality is to not read books and to watch everything. They do not know the power of knowledge they are in brainwashed into thinking that it is bad. The ignorance is either not knowing about the problem or not doing anything about it, “I don’t know anything anymore, he said, and let a sleep lozenge dissolve on his tongue” (Bradbury 15). This is Montag at the beginning or even before the story when he grabbed the books from the burning houses. Then knowledge comes and presses your mind in ways the people can not think, That’s the good part of dying; when you’ve nothing to lose run any risk you want” (Bradbury 81). This was a thought the Montag had come up on his own and did not realize that it was him thinking on his own until Faber exclaimed that it was an interesting unique thought. The ignorance vs. knowledge is also shown in the theme of happiness, that the perspective you see out of will change what you think happiness is. Montag at the beginning thinks that he is happy but Clarisse has her own way of showing him different, “What a shame, You’re not in love with anyone. Yes, I am! It doesn’t show. I am, very much in love! (Bradbury 19-20) This shows that Montag is thinking he is happy, but that is only because he does not know anything another way of being happy and when he wants it to change he can not think of how to change
knowledge and the happiness that is acceptable in the community. The first theme that is prominent in the book is ignorance vs. knowledge because the whole societal normality is to not read books and to watch everything. They do not know the power of knowledge they are in brainwashed into thinking that it is bad. The ignorance is either not knowing about the problem or not doing anything about it, “I don’t know anything anymore, he said, and let a sleep lozenge dissolve on his tongue” (Bradbury 15). This is Montag at the beginning or even before the story when he grabbed the books from the burning houses. Then knowledge comes and presses your mind in ways the people can not think, That’s the good part of dying; when you’ve nothing to lose run any risk you want” (Bradbury 81). This was a thought the Montag had come up on his own and did not realize that it was him thinking on his own until Faber exclaimed that it was an interesting unique thought. The ignorance vs. knowledge is also shown in the theme of happiness, that the perspective you see out of will change what you think happiness is. Montag at the beginning thinks that he is happy but Clarisse has her own way of showing him different, “What a shame, You’re not in love with anyone. Yes, I am! It doesn’t show. I am, very much in love! (Bradbury 19-20) This shows that Montag is thinking he is happy, but that is only because he does not know anything another way of being happy and when he wants it to change he can not think of how to change