Premium Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Themes

Submitted By
Words 885
Pages 4
The themes within Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury differ from the themes in many of Poe’s stories, but also share some similarities. In Bradbury’s story, major themes include the influence censorship has on societies, the violent nature of human beings, and the discovery of self identity. Many of the themes in Poe’s stories include the effect of the loss of a loved one and the impacts of death on others. While the themes are not completely connected, Bradbury uses the death of one of Montag’s neighbors to spark a disgust in his current society which in turn leads to his discovery of his self identity. The violent nature of human beings drove others to kill Montag’s neighbor through a violent car chase. In stories such as “The Fall of The House …show more content…
While the narrator becomes known later in Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury also begins the text with an unknown narrator. Montag, the main character in Bradbury’s book, is impacted by the loss of his neighbor, similarly to how Usher is impacted by the loss of Madeline in the “Fall of the House of Usher.” Throughout many of Poe’s stories, the characters do not grow throughout the story, however Montag, from Bradbury’s book, does. In many of Poe’s stories, the character either begins as good or bad and this determines their actions in the story, but throughout Fahrenheit 451, Montag learns the value of knowledge and various opinions on topics. Montag slowly became aware of the lack of culture in his society throughout the story. This is similar to many of the characters in Poe’s stories, as they uncover events as the story progresses; however, Montag chose to react to these events in an incredibly emotional way, while some of Poe’s characters think logically to come up with solutions. An example of this is the ingenuity used by the main character in “The Pit and the Pendulum.” He logically finds a way to unstrap himself from the torture device by using the mice to chew the straps. When Montag is put in a tricky situation and is caught with illegal books, he makes his situation worse by burning his boss with a

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Themes

...Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury has many themes. The main theme in the book is censorship. It never lets the reader know exactly why books should be banned. It gives a couple reasons, the first one being that people are not interested in reading, and the second one being that some are disapproving of them. Bradbury thinks that society focuses more on t.v. and the radio rather than reading a physical book. The people that disapprove books are the ones that feel offended and sensitive to what they are reading. For example, the character Millie represents the theme of the book. She doesn’t have any knowledge or ideas because she only listens to the radio and watches tv instead of reading. A different theme in the book is that burning books...

Words: 271 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Themes

...Society today uses technology so often that some people are even more invested in the latest television saga or celebrity scandal than they are in their own personal affairs. It is almost like society is reaching closer to the reality of Ray Bradbury's book, Fahrenheit 451, where people are so wrapped up in being around their new electronics that they’ve grown ignorant and compliant to their own terribly controlling government. Ray Bradbury has implied several recurring themes in this book in relation to our own world, such as how happiness does not depend on the newest type of expensive technology and how it can be good to exercise freedom to question the motives of a deceitful authority. Happiness can not be purchased. Television...

Words: 627 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Theme Analysis

...Theme of Fahrenheit 451 “Is it true, the world works hard to play ?” The theme of Fahrenheit 451 is that when people are forced to conform, they can’t show what they are capable of doing. Throughout the text, this theme can be showcased in many places. Starting off with the first quote, it can be found on page 82 saying, “We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black floam“. During this time, Faber was explaining to Montag on why he thinks books are so important, but also says what his take on books being burned was. So this quote talks about how people are living a caged, easy life of not breaking out to do what's different. They all basically have the same...

Words: 538 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Theme Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

...Censorship is the practice of officially inspecting books, movies, and etc. and concealing unacceptable parts. In the book, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, tells the story of a man named Guy Montag who first loved his profession as a fireman but later on, he starts to question his way of life. The book’s dystopian society is immersed with technology and they avoid having deep or meaningful conversations. Bradbury shows how banning books and removing complex thinking can change society’s views. Censorship is the main theme of Fahrenheit 451 because the government controls how the people think and feel. The first reason why censorship is the main topic of the novel was their reliance on technology. The people spent a huge amount of time on their television that was wall-size sets and also listen to ‘Seashell Radio’ that’s attached to their ears. Bradbury writes, “...his wife stretched on the bed...in her ears, the little seashells, the thimble radios...electronic ocean sound of music and...

Words: 564 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Future Theme In Fahrenheit 451

...Ashes of the Future Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury was written in 1950, however it takes place far into the future, even beyond 2014. In this future society, television and radio essentially control the world, and literature is virtually becoming extinct. Firefighters's jobs are to start fires, not put them out. Their mission is to burn all books and the houses they're found in. Guy Montag is one of these firefighters, who is numb to the effects of book burning. He finds joy in the fires and goes about his duties every day, burning books, coming home to his wife, Mildred, who is addicted to her television "family" and sleeping pills. His world is loud and busy, but essentially empty. Eventually, Montag meets his neighbor Clarisse, who is unlike everyone else in that she notices the details in life and the nature all around her, and values the old way of life, including books. Once Montag starts talking to her, he starts to see the flaws in this modern society and wonders what books really contain. This curiosity is heightened even more when he witnesses an old woman die with her books in her house fire because she refused to leave them. Montag begins to collect and read books, which ultimately...

Words: 671 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Theme Of Individuality In Fahrenheit 451

...connects with the purity of nature very well; allowing him to express his individuality. With both hands and nature, the author reveals the major theme of truth and ingenuity being revealed in the society. As seen in the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the author uses multiple references to hands and nature, representing the central theme of revealing truth and creativity. Montag and other characters have multiple connections with hands throughout the novel, symbolizing his determination to shape...

Words: 1702 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Themes In Fahrenheit 451

...Literature shapes humanity and molds the brain to show stories through the eyes of someone else. Ray Bradbury and Joe Fassler have written separate texts to show how literature has improved how people feel, see, or think about a person, place, or thing. Literature lives throughout humans and opens minds to more opportunity and options for improvement. The exposure to quality literature is vaunted and has an immense effect on the improvement of human nature. In the book Fahrenheit 451, reading books is considered to be illegal, therefore books do not get read by most characters in the book. Even though reading is an act that must be kept a secret, literature still manages to live on through characters in the story. For example, when Montag is inside the burning house where the woman chooses to burn with her books, Montag catches a glimpse of a line in a book. “Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine.” (Bradbury 37). The woman burning in the house is what pushes Montag to ask internal questions. Before the woman died she had said, “You can’t ever have my books,”...

Words: 597 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Theme Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

...The book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury has a complex plot filled with various devices and themes, with the most common themes being censorship and what makes humans human. Censorship is the most prevalent theme due to the fact that the book’s plot is about a dystopian future where books are thought of as evil and are burned. They say that this is done because no book can not offend anyone. There will always be someone who finds a book offensive, and the government thought it would be easier and decided to start getting rid of them and replacing them with televisions and other forms of digital entertainment, wiping emotions from daily lives. It may not necessarily be the government and the firemen who are censoring the people, but the people...

Words: 475 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Theme Of Knowledge

...In the novel Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury a man named Montag is satisfied with his job being a fireman which consists of burning down homes for having books. He is happy with himself until he meets a young girl named Clarisse. She is a peculiar person compared to the people Montag knows because she shares something very special with him. Clarisse impacts the theme of gaining knowledge because she guides Montag into discovering what he does is poor and teaches him what life is really about. Clarisse makes Montag think and question things that are going on around him. She pushes him into believing that something is wrong without the pressure of being convinced. "You are one of the few who put up with me. That is why I think it is...

Words: 279 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Theme Ignorance

...Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451 deals with conflict in his society. In the book, the theme is ignorance against knowledge. Guy’s society gains ignorance through the media and his society’s way of controlling its people. Since Guy and the rest of the people in his society are exposed only to what is “normal”, they don’t get the chance to gain knowledge. Guy gains knowledge through Clarisse and Faber because they open up Guy’s viewpoints. However, when Guy tries to educate others it doesn’t always go smooth because of the society’s insistence that their society shouldn’t be changed. In the story, Guy himself shows his ignorance in the book by showing his possessed joy of burning books. Guy Montag tells about his joy for his job, “ It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.’’(pg.1)(paragraph 1) Guy himself shows ignorance by doing his job, which is burning...

Words: 500 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Theme Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

...In Ray Bradbury’s 1953 anti-utopian novel “Fahrenheit 451,” all works of literature are burned and all critical thinking is halted in order to not offend anyone. The Firemen in this society ironically but ablaze any houses suspected of hoarding books and the government expels those who attempt to think freely. Guy Montag is the main character who begins to question his job as a fireman and becomes curious about books. The inspiration for the censorship in this novel came from the effects of McCarthyism and the Cold War during Ray Bradbury’s time. Thousands of Americans were being falsely accused of treason against the U.S. or for being communists due to the escalated tensions caused by the Cold War. For Mr. Bradbury, this time represented one...

Words: 1281 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Theme Of Technology In Fahrenheit 451

...Fahrenheit 451 Too much technology can tear humanity apart. Ray Bradbury shows this theme through the characters Mildred, Clarisse, Montag, and Faber. In Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, he uses characterization to show the themes of humanity and technology. In the book Montag’s wife is Mildred. Her life revolves around technology. Mildred thinks their three full walls of televisions is not enough so she asks, “How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall- TV put in? It’s only two thousand dollars” (Bradbury 18). Mildred only cares about her television parlor, and money is no object to her. As Mildred sat at the breakfast table she, “watched the toast delivered to her plate. She had both ears plugged with electronic bees that were humming the hour away” (Bradbury 16). This is just...

Words: 485 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Theme Of Fire In Fahrenheit 451

...metaphorically and literal. Fire is woven into the theme of the novel in many ways and in different times throughout the book. This helps by showing things such as character growth or just setting the mood. In the literal sense, fire is represented by most of the characters being firefighters. Firefights star fires in home to burn books because books are not allowed in the society also they have important knowledge in them and in the society they would like everyone equal. In this example fire symbolizes destruction. The firefighters do not save people or save anything like I originally thought. In truth, the firefighters create only destruction. In a metaphorical sense, fire is a main part of the book because it represents the destruction and the chaos throughout the plot. It represents the idea that any knowledge or power of the people must be destroyed. It also is metaphorical for the fire that is ignited inside Montag when he begins to question the things around him such as his job because the old woman shows how bad his job truly is and began to...

Words: 386 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Theme Essay

...Fahrenheit 451 is a futuristic story written by Ray Bradbury regarding how society is going to be in the technology-filled future. Montag is a fireman in this distorted and twisted society, but oddly in this world firemen are not the people who extinguish the fires, but the people who start them. Fire is one of the main themes in this story, and Bradburry makes sure to incorporate as much as he can. The irony behind fire in this story is that not only does fire viscously incinerate books, which are banned, but by the end of the book it furnaces warmth and hospitality to Montag. The main reason Ray Bradbury incorporates irony in this story, such as the two different uses of fire, is to convey two essential life lessons. Ray Bradbury's outstanding intellect in literary knowledge fabricates the importance of irony in this story, and its relation to this society. The irony of the opposing uses of fire in is that not only does it cause death and despair, but it also gives off warmth and ease. As Montag harbors into the homeless camps among the most infamous literature writers, they come together and start a fire. A fire in which, “...It was not burning, it was warming,” (Bradbury 139). The significance of this moment in...

Words: 461 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Theme Of Conformity In Fahrenheit 451

...Digression from conformity Through a series of events and experiences every living thing becomes a new version of themselves. These changes are imperative to people as they try to grow and, no matter what, it is hard to avoid such dramatic changes. The basis of Fahrenheit 451 revolves around the metamorphosis of Montag throughout the book, as Ray Bradbury vicariously explains the dreadful faith of society. Montag experiences vast changes that slowly destroy his ignorance of how life really is. Early in the book it is evident that Montag is caught in the centrifuge like society and is masked with happiness. As he encounters certain people he begins to realize that this complete ignorance could be detrimental. His actions after these changes shape how he handles the ending revolution of the book. Montag’s beginning innocence was what went through these dramatic changes to create a more...

Words: 875 - Pages: 4