Fahrenheit 451 Blog

What would the world be like with no knowledge, no opportunities to learn new things, no books. Ray Bradbury imagined this horrible world and wrote about it. The product was Fahrenheit 451. Reading gives you knowledge, and knowledge is power. People who have power can do extraordinary things when they put their mind to it. They can have their own say in things. People filled with knowledge can lead others and inspire them. Knowledge spreads, but it does not when a government burns books and arrests people who have them. The government was trying to stop people from having their own ideas. They were taking away the things from the people that could produce a person who defied the rules, and could stand up and say, "Hey, that isn't right."

Clarisse was one of these people who did not like the mold set for humans. She was her own being. She was herself. She looked at the world as a great place full of surprises. Clarisse lived life. She did not spend countless hours watching a TV. She stopped and looked at the world around her instead of going somewhere just to get there. This attitude towards life changed Guy Montag's look on life. Maybe there was more to life than just technology. Montag was not happy with his life. Clarisse's ideas made Montag finally start to live and love his life.

Although Ray Bradbury claims his book has nothing to do with government censorship, it still seems like the major theme in the novel to me. The government is not allowing anybody to read books. If they do, their house is burned and that person is arrested. That is about as much censorship as I have ever heard of. The government did not want anyone to have the opportunity to defy. They wanted total control of people. This world would be very weird if there were no books. Bradbury expected the future of humans to include no books, and hopefully he is wrong.