Have you ever been so involved with a book that you feel like you personally know each and every character? That when the book comes to an end you feel like a chapter of your life has just closed? What if you could never have that feeling ever again? Would it make you do things you could have never imagined, like breaking the law? Well this is an everyday problem for the people in the future in Ray Bradbury’s book Fahrenheit 451, when most books are deemed illegal, unless the government says otherwise. Guy Montag is a fireman whose job it is to burn books. Most of the time the books are burned along with the home that they occupy, and sometimes with their owners. After meeting a very interesting young girl, Guy starts to question the way he
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Guy becomes very conscious of this problem after he talks to his Captain, Beatty. Beatty explains to Guy why the world is the way it is. He says that it is their way of making sure no one is superior to another: “’We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against’” (Bradbury 58). In other words, society would rather have everyone the same just to save themselves the hassle of having to deal with millions of individuals. If the whole population is the same, then there is no reason for people to compare themselves to one another. On the other hand, there are people like Clarisse, who go against the grain and do not follow societal norms. While walking with Guy, she starts to tell him about herself and her family. She talks about school, and how she does not understand the point of making kids sit in a classroom being talked at by a teacher. She then tells him that she doesn’t go to school anymore because she is deemed antisocial: “’I’m antisocial, they say. I don’t mix. It’s so strange. I’m very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn’t it? Social to me means talking to you about things like this’” (Bradbury 29). To Guy, Clarisse is not antisocial in the …show more content…
When Mildred has her friends over to watch the parlor with her, Guy gets the sense that they shelter themselves from real world problems. They are completely oblivious to war really is: “’He’ll be back next week. The Army said so. Quick war. Forty-eight hours, they said, and everyone home. That’s what the Army said. Quick war. Pete was called yesterday and they said he’d be back next week. Quick…”’ (Bradbury 94). This same friend of Mildred talks about her husband, and how if he dies, she would not cry for him and find a new husband. Everyone in this world is detached from all other humans. The public also changes what has happened in the past. They say that the firemen have always started fires, even though some people don’t believe this to be true. They have also changed the role of certain historical figures: “ Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the Colonies. First Fireman: Benjamin Franklin” (Bradbury 34). They have changed someone who was a founding father into someone who would destroy books because he believed it was for the greater good. In a way they change the past in order to justify the way they are living in the future. On the other hand we have come to realize why they live the life they do. If they do not talk about the things that are going on, then it is easier for them to pretend that there is no real problem. A dilemma that may arise is that people may hear something and
Guy becomes very conscious of this problem after he talks to his Captain, Beatty. Beatty explains to Guy why the world is the way it is. He says that it is their way of making sure no one is superior to another: “’We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against’” (Bradbury 58). In other words, society would rather have everyone the same just to save themselves the hassle of having to deal with millions of individuals. If the whole population is the same, then there is no reason for people to compare themselves to one another. On the other hand, there are people like Clarisse, who go against the grain and do not follow societal norms. While walking with Guy, she starts to tell him about herself and her family. She talks about school, and how she does not understand the point of making kids sit in a classroom being talked at by a teacher. She then tells him that she doesn’t go to school anymore because she is deemed antisocial: “’I’m antisocial, they say. I don’t mix. It’s so strange. I’m very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn’t it? Social to me means talking to you about things like this’” (Bradbury 29). To Guy, Clarisse is not antisocial in the …show more content…
When Mildred has her friends over to watch the parlor with her, Guy gets the sense that they shelter themselves from real world problems. They are completely oblivious to war really is: “’He’ll be back next week. The Army said so. Quick war. Forty-eight hours, they said, and everyone home. That’s what the Army said. Quick war. Pete was called yesterday and they said he’d be back next week. Quick…”’ (Bradbury 94). This same friend of Mildred talks about her husband, and how if he dies, she would not cry for him and find a new husband. Everyone in this world is detached from all other humans. The public also changes what has happened in the past. They say that the firemen have always started fires, even though some people don’t believe this to be true. They have also changed the role of certain historical figures: “ Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the Colonies. First Fireman: Benjamin Franklin” (Bradbury 34). They have changed someone who was a founding father into someone who would destroy books because he believed it was for the greater good. In a way they change the past in order to justify the way they are living in the future. On the other hand we have come to realize why they live the life they do. If they do not talk about the things that are going on, then it is easier for them to pretend that there is no real problem. A dilemma that may arise is that people may hear something and