Fahrenheit 451 Knowledge Vs Ignorance

738 Words2 Pages

The novel, Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, he makes it out to be a utopian society; however, to the lack of knowledge, information, independent thought, and freedom, it is a dystopian society. Bradbury discusses the importance of knowledge, and how it can affect us in our society. The government controls thought and curiosity by burning books. For example, Beatty has a lot of knowledge about books, and also the world; however, he lives in ignorance due to the government. One of the most prevalent themes in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is that of knowledge vs. ignorance. With the lack of knowledge the government controls society, keeping people locked in ignorance. They are in a world, they don’t ask questions, don’t care for each other, and do things without thought.
In Bradbury’s society, firemen start fires instead of extinguishing fires. Firemen burn books as a way to keep society from getting thoughts or getting curious. Montag starts out to be a very ignorant person, and does not put any thought into his actions. He burns books and enjoys it. Bradbury narrates, “It was a pleasure …show more content…

At first, Montag thinks the questions she asks are jokes, and are childish, but Montag still loves to interact with her. The questions that Clarisse asks are very meaningful and gets Montag thinking. Bradbury writes, “Then she seemed to remember something and came back to look at him with wonder and curiosity. ‘Are you happy?’ she said.”(4). At first Montag laughed, and thought it was a silly question, but this is just another way to know that he lives in ignorance. He never has onced asked himself this question. After Montag ponders for sometime he realizes that he is not happy at all. Everything starts to change with Montag now. He starts to ask questions, and becomes even more curious. He even thought about why the government wants to burn

Open Document