Fahrenheit 451 is a great book that enlightened its readers to open a deeper understanding of their society and the role that they play in it. The main character Guy Montag is a firefighter who is conditioned and trained to light fires. He is also trained to burn books because their society has been taught to believe that books are just stories that blind people’s brains and cause them to rebel and become ignorant. People in that society are brainwashed into this age of technology and have the government watching and controlling their every move.
Most citizens feel like books are just a nuisance and would much rather watch television. There is a certain group of ‘rebels’ that fight to keep these written words alive and protect the legacy of the life and stories that there once were in each of these books. It’s so intense that there are martyrs throughout the story. Throughout the story, Guy begins to question his role and embarks on his journey towards enlightenment.
Now the readers of Fahrenheit 451 know that books aren’t sources of ignorance, so therefore most people are appalled and disgusted at the sight of books burning. Most even question and blame Guy’s behavior and ignorance but if people today were conditioned and taught to do that very thing since birth, would they? Just like Guy Montag, many people in society face blind obedience and ignorance towards what is happening around them and should face a moment of enlightenment.
As Guy, most people go about their daily life wondering and stressing about their daily routines and agendas that they confront.
These routines become so natural that it gets to a point where people begin to block their goals and objections in life, that is if they had any, to begin with. Then they stop questioning what their higher meaning in life might be. Bradbury in the novel states, “ We need not be let alone. We need to be bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were bothered? About something important, about something real? (pg. 52)” This quote is significant because most people go about their days worrying about the most ridiculous things and forget to focus on what is ahead of them and their goals. Most people in Guy’s society never could wrap their minds as to why people would want to read. They would blindly obey what their society had been teaching them without them knowing that they were wasting their whole existence.
They couldn’t grasp the importance of these written words on paper and how each story had an author and his whole being and personality tied back to a single book. Each book had a different person and a different point of view and they simply couldn’t understand that since everyone in that society was taught to maintain a single mindset to create this fantasy of a utopian country. Much like our society today, no one wants to be different or stand out. Most people who are different tend to hide it until they find someone who they are certain is similar to them without a shadow of a doubt and even yet they can have trouble trusting one another. Yet society also has this push to try to convince people to be different by calling them confident. Usually, this confusion leaves people standing in the middle of these two concepts. In a conclusion, this usually brings a person to the idea of being different in certain aspects but making sure they are like everyone else in other or most aspects. Technically no one is alone in any idea there just might not be enough people to confess it yet.
No One is Alone. (2022, Apr 25). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/no-one-is-alone/