Fahrenheit 451 Ignorance Quotes Analysis

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Thomas Gray, a poet from the eighteenth century, coined the phrase “Ignorance is bliss” in his poem, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1742), and three centuries later, this quote is commonly used to convey the message that sometimes, being ignorant of the truth can cause happiness, and knowledge can actually can be the source of pain or sadness. However, in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, this phrase is taken very literally, and knowledge is feared to the extent where books are considered illegal. Throughout The Hearth and the Salamander, Guy Montag, the main character, experiences a drastic change wherein he begins to realize that there is power in knowledge, and that this intelligence has the potential to be worth more than the so-called “bliss” that ignorance can bring. Because everyone in Fahrenheit 451 is conditioned to fear knowledge and view it as hurtful, people believe that this the correct mindset, and live their lives without questioning why the government is forcing people to remain in a state of ignorance. Montag is a fireman, meaning that he burns books for a living, destroying the knowledge that is so valued in our society today. Montag is much like other firemen, doing what he was told without …show more content…

She is a symbol for the increasing curiosity that Montag finds in himself as he stops and thinks for the first time about what his job is, and why he is doing these deeds. This curiosity seems to be only the first step of Montag’s transformation from innocence to a state of knowledge. “Ignorance is bliss” is something that has been pushed on Montag and on the Fahrenheit 451 society by the government, but he now begins to question whether this is really true and why the government is so against

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