Literary Analysis Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 is a central story of one man’s journey to re-evaluate the truth, which can be deconstructed from its narrative structures to apparent binary oppositions. Bradbury uses a variety of paradoxical statements to describe the deconstructive difference between alive vs. dead. While Mildred, Montag’s wife feels alive with her television family that she regularly interacts with in the parlor, Montag feels like Mildred is physically present but her thoughts and feelings are elsewhere. Furthermore, Montag describes the mechanical hound and “electric-eyed snake” as living creatures, however they are spiritually dead, “the mechanical hound slept but did no sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly

Ray Bradbury uses indirect characterization as well as Montag’s developed emotions throughout the novel Fahrenheit 451 to show that all humans, even people like Mildred and her friends, are worth caring for, no matter their background, attitude or personality. Montag comes home to find an “uncapped and empty” (Bradbury 11) pill bottle, and Mildred, overdosed. “He felt his hand plunge for the telephone” (Bradbury 11) and called the ambulance. Bradbury’s use of indirect characterization through Montag's actions shows his willingness to care for others even if they don't care about themselves. Mildred has such little love for Montag and their relationship that she acknowledges that she doesn't remember where they met and dismissing it by saying

“There must be something in books, something we can imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”(Pg. 51) Main character Guy Montag is a servant to a society that is controlled by censorship and the fear of knowledge; Montag has spent his life burning books, to prevent the spread knowledge. But a series of events cause Montag's mind to change, and result in him breaking free from his society. The internal struggle of dynamic character Guy Montag, as to whether he should go on believing the lies his society has told him, or risk his life for something as simple as words on a page, brings readers into the corrupt society of Fahrenheit 451. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 author Ray

In both Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Vonnegut’s “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, the authors show major concerns about the future. Bradbury’s major concern is the misuse of technology that leads to the corruption of society while Vonnegut’s major concern is overpopulation and the lack of natural resources for the future. Both authors show concerns that can turn out to be real if people do not do anything about the environment and about technology.

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

The dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 written by author Ray Bradbury in 1953, shows what he speculates the fate of society to be. Fahrenheit 451 takes places in the corrupt United States when people no longer read books and are satisfied only by entertainment. In Fahrenheit 451, the fire has been perceived in many different ways by the main character Guy Montag, once a fireman. Fire in Fahrenheit 451 represents both rebirth and destruction. Mythological creatures, such as the salamander and Phoenix have influenced the change in the perception of fire.

Sandy Hook Elementary School. San Bernardino. Paris. What do all of these places have in common? They fell victim to unpredictability. Mass shootings are not new to our society, but they are still a devastating problem that should not exist any longer. Mass shootings connect to the novel, Fahrenheit 451, through both the unnecessary violence and the absence of humanity that are evident in the novel. Mass shootings are a devastating problem in our society, and now their numbers have escalated to a new level. This change reflects how both our society and our humanity is beginning to crumble, solutions like banning unnecessary and excessive fire arms are currently being enacted.

Throughout the section in the novel of Fahrenheit 451, when Montag shows Mildred the books he has been hiding, Ray Bradbury incorporates diction to develop a frightened, outraged, and bewildered tone. Initially, the outraged tone was presented by the text, “He began to put on his clothes restlessly about the bedroom. ‘Yes, and it might be a good idea. Before I hurt someone. Did you hear Beatty? Did you listen to him? He knows all the answers. He’s right. Happiness is important. Fun is everything. And yet I kept sitting there saying to myself, I’m not happy, I’m not happy’” (Bradbury 62). Montag is unhappy about his life and is mad about what happened to the book lady; furthermore, Montag is thinking about reading books because of what

Within Fahrenheit 451, the absence of human interaction causes the people to be disbanded from their own community and fail to see how their own rights are being violated. Mildred, Montag’s wife, is completely detached from the world around her. She can not perceive let alone recognize the things that are happening to her. A usual occurrence in Montag's house is that Mildred believes that the people within a reality television show, are her real family, and she talks to them. Montag begins to be annoyed with what is

In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag’s view on life reverses. Two characters the influence the main character Guy Montag are the old lady whose house and books were burnt down and Mildred. The old lady was caught preserving books in her home. Firemen including Montag were ordered to burn the books. The old lady refused to leave her books, so she too was burned. She bravely gave an allusion as her last words, “Play the man,’ she said, ‘Master Ridley.’ Something, something, something” (F451 37). Beatty the fire chief who ordered to burn the books replied, ”We shall this day light such a candle, by God`s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out” (F451 37). Montag gave this incident a lot of thought. The more thought he gave it; the more he questioned why the old lady loved those books so much she would die for them. Montag, like most of his society has never read an illegal book, so he is unable to relate to the old woman. But, he feels the urge to find out why these books are so sacred. After reading he begins to realize society is a twisted lie do to the controlling government. Montag’s wife influenced him to stop and question their way of living. Mildred’s common life style shows unhappiness to Montag. In her corrupted mind her family is the television, not Montag. Montag sees this depression and emptiness in Mildred and begins to question the way society has made her. After Mildred attempts suicide Montag tries to prevent him from

Bradbury employs several symbols in Fahrenheit 451 to develop a heavier idea. One in every of these symbols includes the number on the helmet that Montag wears. In the first chapter of Fahrenheit 451, the narrator says, "with his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head" (Bradbury 1). 451 isn’t an arbitrary number that Bradbury randomly chose; all the firemen wear this number on their helmets as a result it symbolizes the work they are doing. 451 is the temperature, in Fahrenheit, where paper burns which are important for the firemen who burns books.

Now on both of their behalves they really did not have the same view into the dystopian society. Montag believed it was wrong to burn books, and Mildred did not care about nothing including Montag and them books. “It is easy to read the women in Fahrenheit 451 as stock, one-dimensional characters, set up only to illustrate the opposite poles between which Montag struggles.” Montag does not realize he struggles to see the differences in him and women. “Although Montag has not yet recognized the problem with this reduction of happiness to a step below hedonism, a kind of vicarious hedonism, in which even sensation is often artificially provided, Beatty seems aware of it." Beatty realizes something different before Montag has the chance to. “Before Montag can begin to recognize his connection to others and to his inhuman society, however, he needs to reconnect with himself, reestablish his relationship with the world.”

Charles De Montesquieu once said, “False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders them kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared.” which is more than true enough for the characters in the book Fahrenheit 451, in the sense that there are two sides to this society without books. One where people are unhappy but they try to distract themselves from their problems. The others, who are few in numbers, understands that knowledge bring happiness and relizes how depressed everyone is without books/knowledge. This is most notably shown by the conflicting ideals of Montag(the main character), Capt. Beatty(Montag's boss), and Mildred(Montag’s wife) because of their views on

When the world around Montag begins to unfurl it drives his mind to examine his life up until that moment. He does not know why he has become so empty and it drives him to anger because he cannot even recollect when he and Mildred met. He thought he loved her but Claire showed him differently. Montag realizes this and thinks “Well, wasn’t there a wall between him and Mildred, when you came down to it? Literally not just one wall but, so far, three!” (Bradbury 41). These barriers that the walls create confirm that part of his emptiness was because of the autonomy the TV parlor created and how his wife had almost totally become a part of that TV world. The people in Fahrenheit 451 subconsciously commit suicide because of the emptiness they feel, although they block out those feelings the best they can by taking pills. What backs up this theory is how common these overdoses are as said by the operator. “We get these cases nine or ten a night. Got so many, starting a few years ago, we had the special machines built” (Bradbury 13). This quote depicts the distraught this society is in and how serious the situation is. These people have no real connections to the world and feel so empty that they do not care what happens to themselves. Even after it happens they still deny that fact to avoid sadness as shown by Mildred (17). Those who have knowledge of what is going on will do anything to not part with it. It was one of these people that changed Montag and made him realize the wrongness in his society. Lenhoff points out to us that the woman would have rather died with this knowledge than live a life without her books, leading us to believe that without her books she had no other reason to live (2). What can be inferred from this quote is that the woman would have felt empty and lonely without her knowledge and therefore took her life with

Fahrenheit 451 is a very interesting novel with many important themes within it. In the second section of the book, titled “The Sieve and the Sand”, the topic of memory is brought up on multiple occasions. In the section, Montag looks to finds Faber, an old man he met years ago, seeking a deeper understanding of the books he had stolen. When he finds Faber at his house, Faber gives him an in-ear device to communicate with Montag Montag and Mildred try to talk about the book Montag stole from the old lady’s house before he burned it down. Moments after they start talking a few of Mildred’s friends come over to watch the “Parlor Walls”. Montag tries to have a conversation but they do not seem the least bit interesting and would prefer to watch something instead. Beside Montag, the women have no interest in knowledge or the past. Bradbury sums up what memory and or lack of it can do when Montag says “Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from making the same damn insane mistakes!” This shows how Montag is one of the few people that sees his world going around in circles, not making any progress because no one thinks to memorize what has