Farenheit451 W/Word Cited Essay, Research Paper

No books and the government’s promotion of televsion dimishes society’s

ability to think and to communicate is what Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit451 displays.

Firefighters of the future have a different job then presently. In the future, they are

to burn books to stiffle the intellects of the society for the government. Because the homes

are fire proof, there is no need for them to focus on the homes. The government

promotes television to occupy society from conversating with each other and expanding

their thinking abilities. Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit451 illustrates and that this censorship

leads to rebellion.

Guy Montag is a future firefighter who is a model citizen of the government.

Montag is a typical person of the future because he does not question the authorities or

wonder about his job and the point of burning the books. After work one evening,

Montag meets an abnormal teenage neighbor named Clarrise. Clarrise is abnormal

because she and her family talk which is different unlike the vast majority of typical

future families that just sit in front of the television. Montag and Clarrise would talk

every night as he arrives home from work. Montag notices the lack of intellect and

vastness and depth of conversation with people. He begins to think of books and

televsion in different ways. This leads him wonder about his life as a firefighter and if

what he is doing is the right thing to do. “The sun burnt every day. It burnt time…So if he

burnt things with the firemen and the sun burnt time, that ment that everything burnt!

One of them had to stop burning. The sun wouldn’t certainly”(Bradbury 141).

Montag notices this more while at work. A call about a woman hiding books in

her attic is reported to the firestation. They respond to the call to find the attic has

books in it. The firefighters toss all her books outside. As the firefighters soaked the

books with gasoline and burned them, the lady threw herself on top of the firery books

and died. Montag was in disbelief that his fellow firefighters would savagely let her burn

alive. Montag notices her devotion to books and wonders if books are really as bad as

the government percieves them to be. “Guy Montag, starts out as a loyal member of the

future society and only gradually shows sign of dissaffectional”( McNelly 68).

It is now that Montag starts seeing the world from a new perspective. He

meets a professor named Faber in the park one day and the two have an in depth

conversation with each other. He learns the professor reads books and wants to get a

hold of more. Faber decides to help Montag and gives him a radio to communicate with

him. Montag starts to steal books from calls and hides them under his house. He is later

suspected of stealing books by his fellow firefighter, Beatty. Beatty tells Montag why

they burn books and the reasons they are bad. During the conversation, a call is

reported from Montag’s house. His wife called the station because earlier that night he

read poetry to his wife’s friends. “Most of us can’t rush around, talk to everyone, know

all the cities of the world, we haven’t time, money or that many friends”(Bradbury87).

Beatty hands Montag a flamethrower and tells him to burn the books. Montag

turns the flamethrower from the books to Beatty and burns him into ashes. Montag

then hits the other firefighters down and flees but is bitten by the mechanical hound. He

uses the flamethrower again and burns the hound. Montag has no other friends that can

help him except Faber and decides to head to his house. “That small motion, the white

and red color, a strange fire because it meant a different thing to him. It was not burning.

It was warming… He hadn’t know fire could look this way”(Bradbury 145-146).

Montag reaches Faber’s house to ask what he should do. Faber tells him that

another hound is after him, and he should find a retired printer who lives in St. Louis that

may be able to help. Faber also gives him some clothes and advises him to drift in the

stream to lose the hound. Montag follows what Faber says and follows railroad tracks

after drifting in the stream. He arrives in the outskirts of the city and meets a group of

hobo book readers, including one named Granger. Granger tells him about a network of

book readers that memorize works of literature and pass it on to the younger

generation. He also reveals their plans to help society after the war. The city is bombed

and Montag leads the group back into the city. “The books are to remind us of what

asses and fools we are”(Bradbury 86).

Montag starts out as a model citizen of the government by not questioning their

authority and gradually grows into an open minded character who is fed up with the

way things are being controlled by the government. Montag meets Clarrise and Faber

who open his eyes to see that society is dull and unaware of what is going on with their

government. Montag starts to explore his life and wonders about books. This leads him

into trouble with fellow firefighters. He tries to read and stay a firefighter to support his

freeloading wife but find this to be impossible because he is expressing himself and

showing curiosity in front of the other firefighters. “Guy Montag starts out as a loyal

member of the future society and only gradually shows sign of dissaffectional”( McNelly 69).

Works Cited :

Bradbury, Ray. Farenheit 451. New York:Ballantine,1953.

Greenberg, Henry, and Olander, Joseph. Writers of the Twenty-first Century. New York: Taplinger, 1980.

Magill, Frank. “Farenhiet 451: Magill’s literary criticisms. New York: Cavendish, 1971.

McNelly, Willis. “Ray Bradbury: Past, present, and future.” Essays on major science fiction. New York: Taplinger, 1980.