Burn Books To Destroy A Culture

Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451 displays a setting where books are being burned instead of read. The novel initially begins with a detailed description of books being burned, with emphasis placed on describing the book as a "flapping pigeon" that slowly dies on a porch (1). The process of burning books is expanded throughout the novel, in which the government encourages the destruction of books by altering history and restructuring the original purpose of firemen: to put out fires. The process of burning books, does not only include setting paper on fire, instead it speaks of the destruction of each thought that are embedded within the paper of the book. Ray Bradbury wants to point out a much a larger critique that is prevalent

In the year 1953, Ray Bradbury published a book titled Fahrenheit 451. This book explores a dystopian world where houses are completely fireproof, and instead of putting out fires, firemen start them. They do this for one reason, which is to destroy all books. The author has many things he wanted to convey, one of which is that books are people. The theme of Fahrenheit 451 is that books encompass the author’s entire life and their opinions. Along with this, Bradbury was trying to show that by reading a book, the reader also shares these experiences.

The quote, “Where they burn books, they will end in burning humans,” seems to be correct for several different reasons. Literally and figuratively, this quote appears in society and in the book Fahrenheit 451. In recent history, many humans have been burned by fire. For example, the Holocaust started with burning books and ended with burning humans. In Fahrenheit 451, many examples such as Montag burning Captain Beatty, a lady burning with her books, and kids burning things for fun prove this quote true.

Finding the hostility of reading books is odd and peculiar but what if the world is full of people that feel inferior to those that know more than them or who have read a wider variation of books, and in that they simply decide that knowledge is not a power we need, nor literature. In a futuristic world where few people see meaning and potential one can find people like Clarisse McClellan to bring the light into people like Guy Montag's world and to see through the modern simulation of life without books filled with fast cars, loud music, and advertisements for distraction from a life eerie and sinister that lead deeper in discussion of religion and discrimination. The people of the city are ignorant to the knowledge, messages, and life lessons that the books they are burning hold. Those that read books are punished by having their house with all possessions burned at their feet and if not that then they are on the run with other renegades that crave the information stored in books.

“It’s not books you need; it’s some of the things that once were in books” Page 82 of Fahrenheit 451. I agree with this statement completely because many of the topics in many books are beneficial to know. However, I believe that certain concepts portrayed in books are one sided and vague and not completely suited to teach young or maturing minds the concepts they attempt to portray. I personally believe that books should be censored, at will, by parents who believe they have a more appropriate way to teach their own son or daughter about the topics they are censoring from them. I must add that banning all books as Fahrenheit 451 suggests is not the answer. Many literary works have the same concepts but teach these concepts from different viewpoints

This quote relates to Ray Bradbury’s ideas of Fahrenheit 451. He was trying to portray to the reader the true meaning of books; that they are not just in pen and paper but more. Bradbury uses the themes of violence and happiness throughout the novel to help readers understand the true value of books and to warn people of the future to come.

Most people, without influence of other people, stay the way they already are. Guy, before he was influenced by Clarisse, acted as everyone else did in his futuristic society. “It was a pleasure to burn.” (Bradbury 3) Bradbury here states that burning books was an occupation of this society. The people obviously don’t want to do anything with the books or read them, so they burn them instead. This shows that people like

“Don’t face a problem, burn it.” (Bradbury 115). This is a quote from the book, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451 follows Montag’s journey after he begins to realize the truth about books. The overall theme is censorship and more importantly the result of it.

In Fahrenheit 451, the burning of books in recurrent, but in our society, it is seen as being wicked. Burning books is disrespectful to the authors who wrote them. To explain the concept to Clarisse,” Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner.” (Bradbury6) Destroying a person’s work is just like saying forget them and all their hard work.

Mass cultures are created by silencing the voices of the opposition, and in Fahrenheit 451 the oppression is in the form of book burning. By burning these books, in a muddled mess of metaphors and allusions, Ray Bradbury is able to show the true danger of a monotone, censored society and the power of individualism and intellectuality. By setting the scene in an ambiguous time and place (although it is in the future), Bradbury makes the dystopian novel more relatable.

“There are worse crimes than book burning. One of them is not reading them.” The author of the novel in question, Ray Bradbury, said this statement regarding censorship and book burning, a main topic in his most famous novel Fahrenheit 451. The novel is set in a futuristic dystopia in which books and other activities that don’t offer instant gratification (such as being a pedestrian) are banned, and in the case of books, burned. The protagonist of the story, Guy Montag, goes about a journey of self-discovery and a realization of the corrupted world around him. The book offers a deep insight into the potential dangers of our society that is obsessed with instantaneous satisfaction. Fahrenheit 451 has no logical reason to be banned from the

“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

“If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.” This quote by Juan Ramon Jimenez means that sometimes rules are meant to be broken and sometimes rules are not always for the betterment of society. Rules give us structure, but they can hinder our humanity towards one another. The book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is about a dystopian society where books are burned and outlawed. Guy Montag, a fireman, comes along, and he learns about a past where people were not afraid to read and break laws and learns this all cause of a girl named Clarisse McClellan, then he meets a man named Faber who teaches him how to understand books. Then

Ray Bradbury wrote the novel Fahrenheit 451, which is a story about a society that believed books were for burning and where thinking was discouraged. Throughout the novel there are several incidents that can be

In this society, books are banned, they are not to be read or owned. Anyone who is caught with a book or accused of having books is punished by firemen. Firemen do not put out fire instead, they start it; their job is to burn books and anyone who owns them, “burn 'em to ashes, then burn the ashes. That's our official slogan” (Bradbury 3). The government justifies their reaction towards books arguing that they are protecting people’s happiness. According to their argument, the knowledge that people gain from books could lead to controversy. Consequently, by destroying books, people are relieved from thinking or arguing, “We stand against …those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought” (Bradbury 30). In order to remain in control, they have to brainwash people on a daily basis, masking their true intentions in the name of people’s happiness. Gabriela Wolk argues that “Fahrenheit 451, pointing towards the true power of the written word” (Wolk 11). Basically, books are considered “a loaded gun” (Bradbury 28) that would threaten the government power and for that, they must be