Fahrenheit 451 Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Essay

In Fahrenheit 451, the characters are all deeply affected by the society they live in. All the characters minds are “controlled” by the government and they believe that books, and the words and knowledge they hold are bad and wrong. Some characters like Montag and Clarisse realize that they way they are raised to think may not be good, they believe that books are good and everyone should be able to read and learn from them. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the characters are deeply affected by the society they live in ; Montag, although he is a fireman, still believes books are good, people believe that paper books will ruin the society, and there are people, such as authors, hiding and trying to bring books back.

Although Montag is a fireman, he has books hidden in his A.C. unit and actually reads them. He believes that books are actually good and that people should be able to read them. Although Montag truly doesn’t fight and try to show people books are good until he finds out Clarisse is dead. “Without looking at it he dropped it to the floor. He put his hand back up and took out two books and moved his hand down and dropped the two books to the floor. He kept moving his hand and dropping books, small ones, fairly large ones, yellow, red, green ones. When he was done he looked down upon some twenty books lying at his wife's feet” (Bradbury pg. 47 ). Montag doesn’t really feel bad until he stills a book from Mrs. Blake and watches her die. I believe this is the moment that Montag realizes that other people should be able to read books. Montag, throughout the whole book, knows that books are not bad, but starts acting on that thought until Beatty comes to house and talks to him about the books he has.

In the society Montag lives in, almost everyone believes that books are bad and will ruin their lives and society. Instead of people learning from reading and past knowledge of incredible philosophers and mathematicians, they learn from technology and tend to stick to leisure activities like breaking stuff and driving really fast. “Coloured people don't like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn it. Someone's written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book. Serenity, Montag. Peace, Montag. Take your fight outside. Better yet, into the incinerator. Funerals are unhappy and pagan? Eliminate them, too. Five minutes after a person is dead he's on his way to the Big Flue, the Incinerators serviced by helicopters all over the country. Ten minutes after death a man's a speck of black dust. Let's not quibble over individuals with memoriams. Forget them. Burn them all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean”(Bradbury pg. 43) People believe that books are controversial and are made to target them, they believe that fire is the answer and that fire will solve all their problems with books.

Most people believe that books are bad, but their are people, mainly authors, who are hiding from everyone who have intense knowledge of very famous books. These people hide in the outskirts of the towns