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Fahrenheit 451 point of view
Stylistic Features Of Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451 point of view
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Fahrenheit 451 is a best-selling American novel written by Ray Bradbury. The novel is about firemen Guy Montag and his journey on discovering the importance of knowledge in an ignorant society. There are many important themes present throughout the novel. One of the most distinct and reoccurring themes is ignorance vs knowledge. Bradbury subtly reveals the advantage and disadvantages of knowledge and ignorance by the contrasting characters Montag and his wife Mildred. Montag symbolizes knowledge while Mildred on the other hand symbolizes ignorance. The society in the novel is controlled by the government. The absence of knowledge is what allows the government to maintain control over society. The government destroys all possible forms of knowledge …show more content…
Some characters like Montag did not succumb to the ignorance of society. Unlike Mildred characters like Montag believed in the power books and knowledge. Montag was once like Mildred until he met Clarisse; his neighbor. Clarisse was different from anyone Montag had ever met. She made him question his career, his happiness and even his marriage. After talking to Clarisse, Montag realizes he’s been ignorant for his whole life and begins a dangerous search for knowledge. After eventually stealing a book and reading it Montag realized that knowledge is really important. Books symbol knowledge because they provide their readers with information they did not know prior to opening the book. Montag no longer believed that ignorance was bliss “”. Through Montag’s fight for knowledge Bradbury is able to help the readers to understand that people are afraid of knowledge because they fear making mistakes. “You’re afraid of making mistakes. Don’t be. Mistakes can be profited by” says Faber (Bradbury 104). Knowledge is gained from experience. The best and worst sides of Montag were revealed during his journey because he made mistakes and learned from them. At the end of the novel Montag like readers comes to the realization that knowledge and experiences is the true meaning of life. Through the use of contrasting characters; Mildred and Montag the author reveals the important theme of ignorance vs knowledge. By showing the
“Our Civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge” (Bradbury, 84). The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a comment on the habit of mankind to destroy itself, only to pop right back up from the ashes. The main character, Guy Montag, represents the parts of mankind that are becoming aware of this, through awareness, change through tragedy and obligation to spread both the former.
At the beginning of the book, Clarisse acted as Montag's mirror and changed his self perspective. Clarisse challenged societal views and in turn had influenced Montag to do the same. Mildred was a mirror image of what their society had become. And she was an illustration of where Montag would end up if he had not altered his actions. Their society had driven itself to a point of brainwashed mindlessness that eventually caused it to collapse. In the rubble of what society once was is where the rebirth of the human race must start, this can only happen if society is willing to look in the mirror to see it’s flaws and move past them. Bradbury created a world of people who were not willing to look in the mirror to reflect upon themselves; a world of people who had destroyed themselves in effort to avoid disappointment in what they had become; a world that now must spend a long time looking in mirrors to be able to even attempt to make diamonds out of their
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by author Ray Bradbury we are taken into a place of the future where books have become outlawed, technology is at its prime, life is fast, and human interaction is scarce. The novel is seen through the eyes of middle aged man Guy Montag. A firefighter, Ray Bradbury portrays the common firefighter as a personal who creates the fire rather than extinguishing them in order to accomplish the complete annihilation of books. Throughout the book we get to understand that Montag is a fire hungry man that takes pleasure in the destruction of books. It’s not until interacting with three individuals that open Montag’s eyes helping him realize the errors of his ways. Leading Montag to change his opinion about books, and more over to a new direction in life with a mission to preserve and bring back the life once sought out in books. These three individual characters Clarisse McClellan, Faber, and Granger transformed Montag through the methods of questioning, revealing, and teaching.
People nowadays have lost interest in books because they see it as a waste of time and useless effort, and they are losing their critical thinking, understanding of things around them, and knowledge. Brown says that Bradbury suggests that a world without books is a world without imagination and its ability to find happiness. The people in Fahrenheit 451 are afraid to read books because of the emotions that they will receive by reading them and claim them as dangerous. Bradbury hopes to reinstate the importance of books to the people so that they can regain their “vital organ of thinking.” In Fahrenheit 451, Montag steals a book when his hands act of their own accord in the burning house, regaining his ability to read and think on his own (Bradbury 34-35; Brown 2-4; Lee 3; Patai 1, 3).
In the exposition of the novel, Montag is mindless about the power books hold, due to the government's lack in intellectual information provided, and begins to question the ruling of his society. Montag begins to face concurrent external conflicts, the first external conflict begins as a result of a difference of belief and loss of love between Montag and his wife Mildred. Montag feels unwanted and unloved as he finds his inner courage to reveal his true feelings and rebellious ideas to his wife Mildred when Bradbury writes, “When he was done he looked down upon some twenty books lying at his wife’s feet… Mildred backed away as if she were suddenly confronted by a pack of mice.” (Bradbury 63). This quote demonstrates Mildred’s shocked response
“ True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge but the refusal to require it”. This quotation explains how individuals take for granted the knowledge given to them without recognizing it’s importance. This is evident in today’s world with social media and fake news. Farenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury also focuses on this theme by subjecting characters to visual stimuli that brainwashes them. Not only are they brainwashed by images, but also all real news and information are blocked by the government. Where the government utilizes different forms of media control to manipulate society’s way of thinking, often leading to ignorance, a sense of emptiness and sorrow.
Fahrenheit 451 is a rich piece of literature written by Ray Bradbury, an author who packs his pieces with strong literary devices, themes, motifs and other enjoyable elements. His work can be perceived in many different ways, but this particular novel was designed to express the idea that overall, the world is better off facing their problems than pretending they don’t exist. This conclusion can be reached by paying close attention to the main character, Guy Montag, whose deeper-than-society thoughts and actions reflect Bradbury’s mind.
Montag has become intrigued and interested in knowing what importance do books have to offer. He starts to have doubts if books really aren't important in life because of a woman he has encountered that stayed in a burning house. He says that “There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing.” This illustrates his curiosity about books, if they are really worthless or the opposite. His desire to search for answers is because he feels that this might be the thing missing in his
“Books aren’t real” [84] to her and the knowledge they contain is frightening and dangerous because it destroys her perfect idealized dream world. At the end of the novel Montag asks her to change her ways. He begs her to actually listen to him and read a book. However, Mildred blatantly refuses to do so because she perceives knowledge as a threat. Instead she screams for him to stop, showing that she would rather be ignorant than be exposed to something unknown. Mildred’s defiance towards knowledge demonstrates how sometimes not knowing is easier that dealing with the truth. Yet, is ignoring the truth any better? Can happiness really be achieved through self-deception and conformity, or is challenging the truth what makes us content?
She is a thought-provoking, conversant, and attentive teenager. She enjoys doing things considered unnatural or antisocial compared to the rest of society. While everyone is watching television she is out dancing in the rain or conversing with her family. Without specifically portraying the how Orwellian the world has become, Clarisse gets Montag to realize it. She talks of the past societies, how firemen used to prevent fires not start them, and how: “There's dew on the grass in the morning” (Bradbury 7). This may seem like an average occurrence, but it makes Montag contemplate on if he even knew that. Clarisse gives Montag the spark to revolt against society; she is to Montag what Montag is to Faber. Mildred plays just as big of a role in Montag’s revolt as Clarisse does. Mildred is caught up in society; she watches television every day, hates books, and even attempts to commit suicide similar to many other people. At times Montag feels as if he is not in love with Mildred. She is highly materialistic and can only be pleased through the means of technology. This shows how societies mold has encapsulated and brainwashed her. Because of her tedious characteristics, Montag sees what has gone on under the roof of his own house. When Montag asks Mildred where they met she says: “It doesn’t matter” (Bradbury 40). She is completely lackadaisical which causes Montag to lose it, and go attempt to save the world from
Although it can be inconvenient to obtain, knowledge is very important. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, most people have very little knowledge. Everyone lives content lives, but they are devoid of meaningful relationships or accomplishments. Bradbury suggests that without knowledge, a society cannot be progressive.
If society is left without books, a population will become homogenous and without knowledge. In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag wants to find his true meaning of life through books. Books are so revered that Montag must hide his books to avoid punishment. This proves that the government does not want the general populous to read literature because it is so valuable. Ideas cannot be taken away once committed to the brain.
Keeping knowledge from people and restricting what they know is, as Robin Morgan stated, an act of tyranny. In society, people may not always realize their knowledge has been limited, which adds to how wrong it is to control what people learn and find out. The society in the book Fahrenheit 451 has been restricted from gaining knowledge. Books are burned by firemen and they have limited freedoms to help keep them from acquiring information. Ray Bradbury warns society about the importance of knowledge in Fahrenheit 451. Based on Human Rights Watch’s article “World Report: North Korea”,
Knowledge helps people make conclusions, lets them be skillful, smart, and keeps them aware. People gather knowledge through experience, whether it's from school, mistakes, witnessing a situation, or trying new activities out. Including in “Fahrenheit 451”, the author, Ray Bradbury does an amazing job in explaining and describing to his audience of how society results in a setting without reasonable amounts of knowledge. People in the society of “Fahrenheit 451” begin to lose common sense after the books are prohibited to keep. In the novel 451 Ray Bradbury warns the audience that without knowledge people are manipulated easily. In reality knowledge is the key to surviving.
Ignorance is inside every person and is present everywhere. With knowledge, people everywhere can use the power of ignorance allowing them to be their own governors. In the book Fahrenheit 451, a great example of this would be the main character Montag. Montag was an ideal, ignorant human-being, all of that changes once he runs into a young girl named Clarisse. Clarisse helped Montag unlock the inner knowledge he had locked within him. With all the new knowledge he had just learned, he meets with Faber who helps him have a better understanding for the meaning of knowledge and to go away with the ignorance that he once had. When finally he has the conversation with Beatty that completely destroys his ignorance allowing him to better see he