Fahrenheit 451: Summary

Fahrenheit 451, originally a novel, depicts the time of censorship and large industrial development. In this futuristic American society, firefighters burnt books rather than extinguishing fires. The government banned books and depicted them to be useless, offensive and more severely, mind ruining. Moreover, the libraries disappeared and teachers did not teach students to think but rather to memorize and follow instructions. The protagonist, Guy Montag, who undoubtedly worked as a fire fighter later saw through the government’s suppression after talking with an unusual woman, Clarisse. He starts to question the actions of the fire fighters, query the social media, and opens up books for explanations to his discomfort. Once he starts reading, Montag challenges every aspect of the society and tries to come out to the enlightenment brought up by his reading. However, his secretive action unsuccessfully revealed to the public when his wife, Linda, reports Montag to the fire fighters. To escape from the government’s eye, Montag goes to the book people

She watches TV all the time; for example, when Montag returns home after work with good news of his promotion, she does not seem to care and focuses on the screen. This seems to be a usual response as it did not surprise Montag. Secondly, Linda’s action as a whistle-blower could well depict the 1950s of American society. During the 1950s, when the novel Fahrenheit 451 was published, McCarthyism began to startle the people. Mistrust among the neighbors aroused and everyone doubted each other for being a communist. In Fahrenheit 451, having the closest person to report was ironical as well as dramatic. It exaggerates to emphasize that everyone is prone to suspicion, even those close families. Growing up under the suppression, Linda would have thought Montag was abnormal and wanted to chastise Montag from going against the