Fahrenheit 451 Setting Essay

The setting of the novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is presumed to be set in a large U.S. city in 2053, 100 years after the book was released. As the story begins, the mood is upsetting, having a science fiction/dystopian undertone. This mood is seen when the main character is introduced as a book burner, a concept unknown to this modern day. The scenes are dull and colorless with dreary details. Technology can be seen as more advanced through the fireman’s pole in a beginning scene. The protagonist of this novel is Guy Montag, a 30 year old fireman, whose job involves burning books. He resembles all other firemen with black hair and brows, yet Montag’s perspective is not that of the other firemen. He realizes things about the society’s

I enjoyed that Bradbury left the end of the story to the reader’s imagination. By having Granger allow Montag to walk in the front, quoting the book of Revelations as they make their way to the fallen city, he leaves the novel on a feeling of curiosity as to what happens next. I enjoyed this aspect, because it allowed me to decide what happens next, and others to do the same, which leads to discussion. However, I did not enjoy how Beatty’s death was a loose end. “Beatty wanted to die”(116). When Montag was holding the flame thrower, Beatty taunted him and when Montag turned on him, he did not fight back. His attitude towards books had gone back and forth and it is troubling to not know how he stood. I learned that we cannot allow society to control our minds. A society’s thought can’t be allowed to be controlled. If this happens, we lose our sense of individuality. We no longer think for ourselves or have different perspectives and personalities. Books are a crucial part to the foundation of a society, knowledge and individual thought shape us into who we are, we are unique, and that cannot be taken from us. Mankind falls repeatedly into an endless loop, but we always rebuild, because in a world of drones, someone always breaks the