Dystopia Depicted in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

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In Fahrenheit 451, the reader gets a very vivid description of the deplorable dystopian

society by reading only the first few pages. Fahrenheit 451 was written by Ray Bradbury in

1953. A dystopia is an imaginary place where everything is as miserable and horrific as it could

possibly be for the citizens. Guy Montag is the central character and a fireman, under the

command of his superior fireman, Captain Beatty. Montag walks home with seventeen year old

Clarisse, who asks him many unusual questions, which gets him thinking about his job.

The “firemen” in Fahrenheit 451 do not extinguish fires. They actually start fires, by burning

everyone’s books, in order to stop all knowledge in this society. Therefore, Montag is caught in

the conflict between the all-powerful firemen and the unconcerned citizens, which shapes the

entire novel.

Now that Montag and Clarisse are friends, Clarisse asks Guy many poignant questions,

including some unfamiliar ones. She asks him “How long have you been working as a fireman?”

(8) and “Do you read any of the books you burn?” (8), but her one statement, which leaves

Montag thinking deeply, is, “I heard once that firemen used to extinguish fires at houses that

were accidentally set to flames.” (9) Clarisse is obviously very interested in everything that

Montag thinks and expresses to her. At first, he responds by simply laughing, but later, his mind

begins to transform. Clarisse also asks Guy whether he enjoys doing his job or not, and Montag

replies to her that he loves his job. But, after Clarisse tells Guy about what firemen used to do, he

thinks more about it. The reader can assume that Montag will soon begin to slowly dislike his

job. As a resu...

... middle of paper ...

...out society in 2011. The

number ‘451’ refers to the temperature at which books burn, according to the Fahrenheit scale.

Books contain facts, knowledge, ideas, and philosophies from history. If there is no truth

and knowledge of the past, then society can easily turn into a dystopia. Under a dystopian

government, a single group of people controls masses of citizens by keeping them ignorant.

The author helps the reader to think about what citizens need to do today to prevent this from

happening. When Bradbury wrote this book, his forms of communication were limited to radio,

telephone, television, newspapers, and books in libraries and on shelves. The Constitutional

Freedoms of religion, the press, assembly, and speech need to be protected and guarded by

knowledgeable citizens of Fahrenheit 451, unlike the Captain Beatty’s of this world today.

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