In the book called Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the motif of judgment is a reoccurring idea. Montag judges the appearance of society like a typical citizen until he realizes the importance of contents through his discovery of books. The perspectives are interchanged when society judges Montag back due to his action of joining Granger’s community. Montag’s search for knowledge destroys the ignorance he used to follow blindly and changes his views to a different world of judgment.
Montag makes a typical judgment from the cover of society by conforming to its expectations.
He happily burns books due to the propaganda of society teaching the citizens that books are bad for their health because “the city has never cared so much,” (Bradbury 154) until meeting Clarisse. Her curiosity leads to Montag questioning the existing political system of society. His new perspective is the start of him looking beyond the cover of the metaphorical book about society towards the problems of restricted freedom, independent thought, individuality and dissent.
He reads books illegally to learn the meaning of their contents. Montag discovers the wonderfulness of books and their meaning to life. He learns looking at the contents is better than to “judge a book of [his society] by its cover” (Bradbury 155).Montag does not judge Granger’s group on arrival unlike the society.The men of Granger’s group appear like hoboes that do not know anything due to their “stink like a bobcat” (Bradbury 147) and bearded faces.
As a result, they are easily overlooked by the government of society because “there’s nothing to incriminate” (Bradbury 152) them. But in reality, they contain all the information that is restricted in society within them. The society continues to judge Granger’s community until it “rolled over and fell down dead” (Bradbury 160). On the other hand, Montag and Granger’s group are the only citizens, who stop jud…
Judgement Themes in Fahrenheit 451. (2019, Nov 27). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/judgement-themes-in-fahrenheit-451/