Fahrenheit 451 Paradox Analysis

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Ray Bradbury shared his opinion of society in the 1950s with his book Fahrenheit 451. A book where all things act against the rules of the society known today. A story where some thought is a utopia is actually a dystopia, but few realized that. The author used many different literary devices to share his thoughts on society without just putting them out there. To begin with, Bradbury used paradoxes to mock society a multitude of times. For instance, “He strode in a swarm of fireflies.” (Bradbury 3) he used as a paradox. The paradox being that fireflies is actually the ashes flying up from the books he is burning. This satisfied him, for example, “Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame.” (Bradbury …show more content…

For example, “He saw himself in her eyes, suspended in two shining drops of bright water, himself dark and tiny, in fine detail, the lines about his mouth, everything there, as if her eyes were two miraculous bits of violet, amber that might capture and hold him intact.” (Bradbury 7) he uses to contradict himself acknowledging that he is truly dark and a wrong type of person through someone who is bright and good. After Clarisse caused him to see who he really is, he began to question if the author was really happy for instance, “He felt his smile slide away, melt, fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out.” (Bradbury 12) through her he began to realize he honestly was not happy. This all caused him to begin pondering his everyday life. The author tried to get the point across that all too often getting lost in what society says should happen makes people lose sight of who they really are. In conclusion, Bradbury was not incredibly satisfied with society, and the way everything was meant to be. He wanted people in society to stop and smell the roses not cause them to be a red blur. The author wrote the book to demonstrate a society without books would not be a very good society after all. It would cause destruction and devastation. That society needs to focus on books, family, and all the things around them instead of just letting it pass

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