A world without books and freedom of knowledge that leaves people ignorant, that's the picture that Ray Bradbury paints in his book, Fahrenheit 451. The characters mill about as mindless drones, never thinking for themselves. But, when the main character, Guy Montag, picks up a book and starts reading. He begins to think and question the way things are. Fahrenheit 451 was written to condemn the restriction of knowledge and support the idea that knowledge should not be banned or taken away. As such, Bradbury predicts what would happen if people no longer had the knowledge to be able to think for themselves.
Without the knowledge that books provide, people in our story are not able to think for themselves. The more people read, the easier it becomes for them to process the world around them. In the book, after guy starts to read the books he saves, he begins to wonder at and question the world around him. He feels that society has become monotone and confining, "We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon." (Bradbury 58) This was said by the fire chief, Beatty, when he was talking with Guy. Guy later says something that proves how reading has changed his thinking, "I don't know. We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing." (Bradbury 39) Before Guy read those books, he would have never even thought about whether he was happy or not. He would burn without question and believe that the adrenaline rush was true happiness. The books he read unlocked the possibility for him to think, and feel, for himself, while others around him continue on as mindless slaves to society.
Books teach us about the world around us and let us look at things from a different point of view. One of the characters that Guy interacts with is a strange girl named Clarisse. She was told the stories of the books that her uncle read, and had a very different view of the world that they both lived in. She said, "Bet I know something else you don't. There's dew on the grass in the morning. And if you look—there's a man in the moon." (Bradbury 7) She took the time to look at the grass and the sky, noticing things that nobody thought or cared about. Guy starts to see things from her point of view and when he tries to act on the things she points out, he starts to realize that the little things in life can make him so much happier. But, Guy gets upset when Clarisse asks the question, "Are you happy?" (Bradbury 7) He gets upset, because he doesn't know. Clarisse was able to open Guy's eyes, because she had heard the stories of the books her uncle read. She was what made Guy want to read books, which caused him to question why the firefighters burn books.
Books also make people feel. Most people in the society just stare at their parlor walls, which are covered in television screens. They enjoy this because it makes them forget their troubles and they can just focus on the story they're being told. But, it also makes them oblivious to what's going on around them. "But who has ever torn himself from the claw that encloses you when you drop a seed in a TV parlour? It grows you any shape it wishes! It is an environment as real as the world. It becomes and is the truth. Books can be beaten down with reason." (Bradbury 138) This was said by an old man named Faber as he described why he thought people didn't care enough to read books. The simple answer, they were too caught up in technology to be bothered by something as trivial as feeling, because when people read books, they get swept up in the characters and lost in the plot. When the characters are sad, the reader is sad. But, in this world, nobody wants to feel the things that books would make them feel, "You see? I knew it, that's what I wanted to prove! I knew it would happen! I've always said, poetry and tears, poetry and suicide and crying and awful feelings.." (Bradbury 100) This was said by Mrs. Bowles after Guy reads her and Mrs. Phelps a poem, which makes Mrs. Phelps cry. Mrs. Bowles thought that the poetry was to blame for her friends distress, and openly slanders books and poetry. Society taught her that books, poetry, and the feelings that accompany them, are bad and should be forbidden and annihilated. She didn't want to feel, and blocked out the poem as Guy read. But, Mrs. Phelps did feel, and she realised that maybe crying, and books, aren't so bad. The book changed Mrs. Phelps, making her think of her husband off in the war and her prior husbands. The poem unlocked the floodgates, allowing her to feel for the first time in forever.
By restricting books and the knowledge that comes with them, the government deprived the people of their freedom in more than one way. They took away the freedoms of their own thought, a different point of view, and of feeling. By writing this, Ray Bradbury shows the importance of knowledge and books in our society. If the government in the real world decides to restrict knowledge like the government in Fahrenheit 451, things could turn out very similar. That's why it's important to protect books and fight book banning, it's only one step away from book burning.
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Short stories
NouvellesA group of short stories that I wrote to pass the time, including fractured fairytales. Some of them are older and not as good. Any feedback you have would be helpful!
