Book Report On Fahrenheit 451

Censorship amounts prohibition of expression of someone’s ideas, thoughts which may be detrimental and prejudicial to a particular class of people. The book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, revolves around the idea of censorship as a bane to the society and culture. The book touches on various consequences of censorship like social isolation and infringement of thoughts. Bradbury has given an accurate representation of the society leading to an end as censorship proceeds to prohibit literature. Literature is power and censorship is suppressing it. Suppressing

Background: this story takes place in a futuristic USA where the country is at the brink of war. Tensions between other countries are increasing and soldiers are being deployed to their stations. Although all of this is happening citizens of the US believe that the world will be short and quick and the soldiers will be back home within a week.

“Are you happy?” is a question that is asked in Ray Bradbury’s book Fahrenheit 451, a question that we disregard. This question changed one mans perspective in the book entirely, it changed how he view society as a whole. How do you see your society? Is it good or is it bad? Do you feel as though you are happy in this society? Maybe we are slowly turning into a dystopian society. Becoming dependent on technology and out casting thing like books. Limiting what it is we can and can’t do, even rewriting history. As strange as it is, our world is beginning to mirror several aspects of a distant Dystopian society of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Are we progressing to that type of world?

In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury shapes a society that is restricted in speech and thought and centered on technology. In this future, books have been banned. When discovered, they are burned along with the houses they are found in. Responsible for setting the fires are “firemen”. Among them is Guy Montag, the main character of the novel. The elimination of books was merely one step of many to fully eradicate individual freedom of thought and speech. In his efforts to explain to Montag the history of their society’s censorship, Captain Beatty lectures: "The bigger your market, Montag, the less you handle controversy, remember that! All the minor minor minorities with their navels to be kept clean. Authors, full of evil thoughts. Lock up your typewriters. They did”(Bradbury 57). Beatty clarifies that it was the people rather than the government that purged the world of books in order to cease controversy and prevent feud. Opposite to the presumed result, their world is more consumed in war than ever before. The privation of human interaction leaves their society passionless and without true happiness. To compensate for the love lost, their world is drowned in various technologies. Televisions coating entire walls, and the characters inside them, become of chief importance over actual people: “’Will you turn the parlour off?’ he asked. ‘That’s my family’” (Bradbury 48-49). Montag’s wife Mildred entirely disregards her husband’s request as it seems her television characters are of higher value to her than her own husband. Along with her, the

In the book Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, the author predicts the future of today’s society. Bradbury predicted the future of today’s technology and societal issues. Some technology from the book that is similar to today is the small electronic earpieces that fit into peoples’ ears to communicate with people; nowadays, it exists and people call it Bluetooth. In addition, there was large flat screen televisions that were the size of a wall. Technology is part of the societal issues from the book, they are similar to today’s society because the people do not care about reading or gaining knowledge anymore, it’s all about television and technology. In addition, suicide is not taken care of or prevented properly It is almost as suicide is taken as a joke. Actually, there are many ways today’s society is similar to the book, society that Bradbury based in the future containing advanced technology and societal issues.

In Fahrenheit 451 people have their parlor walls yelling things at them, entertaining them for hours. “Will you turn the parlor off?’ ‘That’s my family.” Mildred along with many other TV wall owners consider the people on them ‘family’ (Bradbury 49). The people on the walls feed them information about life, and just random bits of things to be entertaining. They don’t want to think about the story behind the people in the walls, they just want to listen to them tell it. “Couldn’t you get the shows in your own parlor?” Mildred went to a friend’s house just to do what she could do at home and sit with other people (Bradbury 50). People in Fahrenheit 451 do what they are taught, they don’t want to try anything different. They don’t think any different from each other, they all are driven for the same

“A book is a loaded gun in the house next door…Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?” –Ray Bradbury. Our world compared to Fahrenheit 451 is such a stark contrast, In our world, books are cherished above all others. In 451 books are illegal. The Firemen start fires instead of putting them out. But the only similarity between our world and there's is that technology is everywhere, it is controlling and brainwashing.

"Heavy Cell Phone Use Can Quadruple Your Risk of Brain Cancer." Mercola.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.

Book-burning is the first thing that is explained about this future based society of Fahrenheit 451. Burning books is the obliteration of the single thought on paper or in one word- censorship. Books are considered evil because they make people question and think. All intellectual curiosity and thirst for knowledge must be quelled for the good of the state — for the good of conformity. Without ideas, everyone conforms, and as a result, everyone should be happy. When books and new ideas are available to people, conflict and unhappiness occur. Some of the many different motifs in the novel Fahrenheit 451 are conveyed through the use of various sardonic lines and connotations planted throughout the book. On the matter of technology and modernization it explains how TV reigns supreme in the future because of the "happiness" it offers. People are content when they don’t have to think, or so the story goes. TV aside, technology is the government’s means of oppression, but also provides the renegade’s opportunity to subvert. Rules and order is another popular topic written into the book. It is stated that “All books can be beaten down with reason.” This was said by Captain Betty, a quote ironically coming from a book itself. Much of the restrictions on the general populous are self-enforced. The government has taken away the citizens’ ability to dissent and marred all dissatisfaction with a cheap version of "happiness," a.k.a. TV. This means

Life is filled with sorrow and melancholy; they are unexposed to a world of different ethnicities, standpoints and emotions. In this next quote, the main character, Montag reads a poem to typical Fahrenheit 451 housewives. This happens towards the middle of the novel. These house wives are non-thinkers and have already been brainwashed by the propaganda, “‘Dover Beach.’ His mouth was numb… he began to read in a low stumbling voice that grew firmer… Montag finished it out…Mrs. Phelps was crying… She sobbed uncontrollably. Montag himself was stunned and shaken. ‘Sh, sh,’ said Mildred… ‘I’ve always said poetry and tears, poetry and suicide and crying and awful feelings’… ‘Clara, now, Clara,’ begged Mildred, pulling her arm. ‘Come on, let’s be cheery, you turn the ‘family’ on, now’ (Bradbury 96-97).” In this quote, the first emotions are shown by a non-thinker. Her sudden mood swings from happy to sobbing can portray how other civilians do not know how to react to the emotion. The constant need to watch the ‘family’ affects people and makes them lifeless, they are seen as useless bodies whose only emotions are confusion. The existence of these non-thinkers is useless, they do not contribute to society in any way. Fahrenheit 451’s plot is also affected by these non-thinkers. This anti-thought society caused the main character, Montag to run away, wanting to change the government where books are illegal. A society

“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings” is a famous quote said by Heinrich Heine, which relates to the concept of book burning, seen in the novel Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury uses his unique literary style to write the novel Fahrenheit 451; where he brings his readers to a future American Society which consists of censorship, book burning, and completely oblivious families. The novel’s protagonist, Guy Montag, is one of the many firemen who takes pride in starting fires rather than putting them out, until he encounters a seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse McClellan. As the novel progresses, the reader is able to notice what Clarisse’s values are in the novel, how her innocence and

Almost everyone at the beginning of the story were weak minded and self evolved. Mildred is one of the main victims who just wanted more than what they had and weren't satisfied until they got it. Montag built Mildred a three TV parlor, but that wasn't good enough for her so any chance she got she tried to complain. The people in Fahrenheit 451 have no emotion at all, Mildred told Montag that Clarisse died a week after it happened and she was so nonchalant about it because it has been just another death and that wasn't her main priority, she was focused on getting a new

Ray Bradbury is a classic science fiction/fantasy writer who is best known for his works Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles, and Illustrated Man. He was born Ray Douglas Bradbury on August 22nd, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. His father was a telephone technician, his mother was a Swedish immigrant and his grandparents were newspaper publishers. He lived in Illinois until in 1934, at age 14, his family moved to Los Angeles, California. There he attended Los Angeles High School from which he graduated in 1938. During his time in High School he was a part of the drama club and planned to go into acting and rise into fame, and often roller skating around the streets of LA attempting to spot famous actors. Because the depression left his family with no money to pay for college he pursued no further formal education

It was a red-stained brick house. An old house with steps in the front, a door on the side, and a rather large white window in the front of the house. Some days, you can hear pieces of Bach, Chopin, Mozart, and Beethoven playing softly.

Fahrenheit 451 is about a man named Guy Montag struggling to do his job as a fireman. In the book, firemen are not what you think, they are required to burn all books. But, when Guy meets a girl that is in love with books he starts to re-think his career. Meeting that girl causes him to start stealing and hiding books. Guy becomes a fugitive and is running from the police in search of somewhere to read and learn about books.