451: More Than Just an Auto-Ignition Point A look to the future seems bleak for the literary world. Forcing us to see the prospect of a world without the influence of creative thinking, this novel conjures a grim outlook. In the novel by Ray Bradbury titled Fahrenheit 451, fire symbolizes everything from the destruction of social issues to the renewal of hope. Guy Montag is the protagonist who faces a dilemma in a community that has chosen to burn all of the books. Montag is a fireman who is tasked with burning books as a profession. Montag meets a series of characters who aid him in his journey of preserving the information in the books. In the end, the knowledge is preserved in an unconventional way. In the article by Michelle Dean, titled “Our Young-Adult Dystopia”, she describes the current situation of books being mass produced without much substance. She discusses works that are similar to each other and lack depth. …show more content…
In the quote “Do you ever read any of the books you burn?”. He laughed. “It’s against the law!” (Bradbury 3). In this dystopian society, burning books was a way to keep people in the town from thinking on their own. Free thinking can lead to people having opinions that go against the ones in charge. This type of social control keeps the government from being challenged. Therefore, the powerful will always remain in command. Fire scorches any ideas of upheaval. When people are controlled by the lack of knowledge, they are blind to other ideas. The quote, “Only fire chiefs remember it now” is referring to the reason that firemen are now doing what they do (Bradbury 23). They burn books when they used to put out fires. The firemen were put of the job of burning the books so the knowledge of the books could be removed from access. Knowledge is power. The less knowledge circulating in a dystopian society, the better for those enforcing the