For example, when an old woman, whose house was being incinerated for keeping books, stays inside, she shouts out “Play the man, Master Ridley!” (pp. 40), originally said by a man condemned to being burned at the stake for heresy in 1555. Beatty understood this quote to the extent that he knew who and when it was said. The numerous books Beatty read had been written by a variety of authors with different and sometimes opposing thoughts and opinions. Considering the society in Fahrenheit 451 is centered about conformation, Beatty is violently averse to the thought of having conflicting vantage points.
In his poem, Stafford depicts books as a symbol of ignorance and burns them in a verse about them burning and turning to ashes. However, he mostly judges people for not writing anymore and finds it disturbing to see “whole libraries that no one got around to writing,” (William Stafford) emphasizing the lack of knowledge-filled books of his time. The focus of this poem stands out as different from the previous examples because of the time during which Stafford writes it: 1987. During this time the Cold War occurs, a time of tension between the USA and Russia, who build nuclear weapons to intimidate one another. During this time, people show more interest in knowing the events on the news rather than spending time writing books.
The book, Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury brought to light some scary yet plausible ideas on the future of the world. In the novel, firemen are ordered to burn books and the public is brainwashed into worrying more about materialistic happiness than taking the time to think. The epigraph at the beginning of the book reads, “If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.” This quote is Ray’s way of drawing attention to the simple fact that although society will do its best to conform people to their liking, people must always challenge to question and rebel against the norm. One way this epigraph ties well with the book would be the ongoing challenging of the society that the main character, Montag, does all throughout the book. A prime example of this being the time when Montag had a lengthy and thought-provoking conversation with his wife, Mildred, on pages 146-151.
The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury takes place in a dystopian society where books have become nearly obsolete because of the evocation of thought, at least free thought, is seen as a negatory result due to the fact that differing opinions presented in books can lead to offending people. Montag, the main character, is a firefighter, but firefighters in this society burn books and houses rather than putting the fires out. Montag meets a girl that is different from the rest of the society, and she changes his perspective of books, and therefore life. In a world where technology is taking over and interfering with human connection, Montag takes a journey to make books important again in hopes of reversing the negative effects of technology. The purpose of
This is until the day he meets Clarisse, who looks at the world in a different way than anyone else. Then, shortly after, he has to burn down a house full of books and burn the woman inside also because she refuses to leave. This causes Montag to realize that books should not be burned and have great significance in the world. He then shows his wife the abundance of books that he has collected from his job, and his wife, Mildred, becomes concerned. This later causes her to make up lies to cover the fact that Montag is breaking the law of owning books.
Many people of the modern day society are more distracted by technology. These distractions cause people to be oblivious to the those in their surroundings. In Ray Bradbury’s story, Fahrenheit 451 a firefighter named Guy Montag lives in a world where books are outlawed. Montag is a firefighter, but these are not your ordinary firefighters. In this corrupted society, firefighters are signaled when books are found in a home; they then burn the books and the houses.
He also utilizes this theme to show us how the characters evolve throughout the story the characters change in drastic manners the way they act and the way you persevere them as characters.An example of this is that Guy Montag starts off as a man he enjoys what he does for a living burning books and he loves the smell of the kerosene lighter fluid he uses but later in the book it says “Montag is sick the next morning, and the omnipresent stink of kerosene makes him vomit” At the beginning of the book Montag loved the smell and he loved his job but now the smell makes him want to vomit. Montag used to think he was living a happy life but then he met Clarisse and he started to think his life wasn’t that filling, and he thought books were meant for burning but now he wants to save all the books because he thinks they will fill the gap he feels in his life. Guy Montag is the opposite of a static character and undergoes many changes throughout the book and all of those changes would be considered strange or weird because he was being an individual and was thinking for himself instead of just taking
“Fahrenheit 451” talks about a future American society, where technology has affected humanity negatively. The main character is Montag, a fireman who lives in a society where censorship is heavily used to hide the history of their country. Books are banned, and firemen burn them. Montag and his wife Mildred, a technology addict, begin to read books, slowly leading them to question the countless problems in his society. In both stories, Ray Bradbury uses tone and literary devices to show how an overdependence on technology as well as a disconnection from the
It is evident that Beatty is in conflict with himself with his obvious hypocrisy over knowledge and books and his want to die, and this deeply affects the entire novel. The first sign of Beatty’s hypocrisy and internal conflict is when readers realize that although he dismisses books as useless and nonsense, he himself has read many books and is well educated in literature. When Beatty first visits Montag, guessing (correctly) that Montag is having doubts about his job, he tells Montag about how their society came to be and why the firemen exist, praising their role as necessary. He claims “the books say nothing! Nothing you can teach or believe.” (Bradbury 62).
Granger, a leader of a homeless group, teaches Montag how many things the government is changing for us. At the beginning of the novel, Montag is an ordinary fireman, but then he meets Clarisse, and she changes his mindset about the government and burning books. Next, Faber helps Montag stabilize his goals of reading books. Finally, Granger pulls Montag out of his rebirth and into his new life were he encourages Montag to persevere through his hard times. Clarisse, a not normal girl in this society, talks to Montag for only a minute, but Montag’s takeaway from the conversation stayed with him for life.