Fahrenheit 451 Research Paper

Books and the written language are and have been hallmarks of education and therefore have been important throughout time. We know the history of civilizations, science, math, literature, and history itself from written records. In our history, people have burned books and refused to allow people to learn and educate themselves through books to limit knowledge and to erase power, because books are intrinsically linked to education and power. And as we know- knowledge is power. Books also allow people to expand their horizons by reading material from other points of views and lives. This allows us to shape our views and beliefs. We would lose this without books and effectively lose who we are. Without books we would lose our knowledge, civilizations, and ourselves.

Books go hand and hand with education. We learn how to read and write from books, we practice skills and teach ourselves from books. Not a year in my education has gone by without a book or several being part of the curriculum. In ninth grade I read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The novel changed my view of the importance and need for books, because it showed the horror and devastation of a world without them.

The Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang as well as many ancient rulers burned texts in order to consolidate power and eliminate knowledge especially of previous rulers. Books were burned in wars because the burning books erased civilizations by making them lose their power and knowledge of themselves. Hitler and the Nazi Regime burned thousands of books that they deemed anti-german. In reality, these books questioned Nazi beliefs and therefore threatened their power. By eliminating the offending material the Nazis controlled the power of knowledge. When Mao Zedong took power in China he did the same thing as the Nazis and burned books in order to control power and knowledge.