Ray Bradbury’s dystopian fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 is frequently viewed as his love confession for books. Ironically, the characters live in a society where hooks are outlawed and firemen are commissioned to remove them by burning every page to ashes. Throughout the story, Montag, the main character, experiences a gradual change in his attitude towards books. At first, he lives in fear of the books he burns for a living, believing that they are the cause of everything negative. However, after his encounters with Clarisse and witnessing of an old lady refusing to leave a house full of books being burned, he realises the importance of books and strives to preserve every remaining title he can find. He struggles, however, living in a society that denies the importance of literature In their minds, “a book is a loaded gun in the house next door.”
In this novel, Montag learns that people choose to steer clear of reading because books arouse strong emotions, incite ideas, and open their minds to the reality of the world around them. In our world, people read poetry and feel touched, describing even the most sorrowful works as ‘beautiful’. In Montag’s world, however, people believe that poetry leads directly to immeasurable sadness and sorrow, For example, when Montag finally loses his temper and reads a poem to Mildred’s friends, the women experience everything from rage to melancholy. Ms. Bowles, one of Mildred’s friends, notices her friend weeping and explodes, “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, poetry and sickness; all that mush! ” And as if Montag is actually hurting them with the words, she continues to say, “Why do people want to hurt people?
Not enough hurt in the world, you got to tease people with stuff like that!“ Ms. Bowles believes that books ‘hurt people’ and that people should not ‘tease’ others with poetry or any sort of literature because to her, books signify danger and disturbance to society, Like her, the others that know the ‘dangers’ of books prefer to stay away from them, as Mildred does when Montag sits her down to read to her a book. After just a few pages in, she cries, “‘What does it mean? It doesn’t mean anything!” To her and anyone ‘sane’ (under society’s standards), books are obnoxious objects that only cause strong, negative emotions. Montag’s society is afraid of books, To them, books give them difference when what they really need is indifference. “They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless.” When books show ‘pores,’ it causes people to wonder and innovate.
127 our experts are availableright now
When the authors of those books express their opinion, they don‘t know how to take in the new information without letting it disturb their original mindset. They desire uniformity in everything, whether it be how they think, perceive the world, or live their lives. Ironically, the people of Fahrenheit 451 actually felt as if they knew things and were full of knowledge. How? Captain Beatty explains: “Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they‘ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.” By giving the people simple and empty information, it fills their minds with emptiness and eliminates any ‘unwanted’ thoughts.
But presenting them with philosophy and sociology forces their minds to them to process new information and add to previous knowledge, allowing them to generate individual thoughts. Since they know thinking wouldn’t do them any good, they completely get rid of the existence of books. Last but not least, books remind them of reality. And for the people of Montag’s society, they are living in a world where a war is actively taking place, “You can’t build a house without nails and wood. if you don‘t want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don‘t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one, Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top—heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it.” Captain Beatty explains how information can lead to chaos and worried people.
To them, reading gives people cognitive power and allows them to form independent thoughts As mentioned above, all of Mildred’s friends were extremely displeased with Montag‘s poetry recital because they knew those words gave them uncomfortable feelings and provoking thoughts. They knew why they chose to eliminate reading from their lives, and that’s possibly because to them, books leads to sadness which leads to independent thoughts and worries which eventually leads to realisation of the reality of war around them. Montag’s community relies solely on technology Instead of reading, Montag‘s society relies on technology such as television and radios to keep them entenained. For example, Mildred prefers her three walls of TV screens and her virtual “family” members over talking to Montag because they‘re programmed to feel personalised and intimate, when in reality they hold no real meaning.
This is very similar to what happens in our current world, for more and more people nowadays prefer the usage of technology over paper literature and books, And although it may seem that the government is to blame for the prohibition entirely, Ray Bradbury revealed that it was entirely by the people‘s choice that books were banned. The people never revolted against the government‘s decision because they, too, realized the reality-blinding benefits of technology, and chose to completely eliminate books from their lives Luckily for Montag, he realises the sheer value of books and discovers why the woman refused to come out of the burning house. Beginning with his realisation of why people avoid reading; arousing of strong emotions, inciting of ideas and opening of reality; he gradually begins to accept his love for books and desire to choose literature over his society. As Faber stresses, “Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them, at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.”
