Identity In Fahrenheit 451

Imagine a world where gaining knowledge through the interpretation of observations from people’s past experiences and inputting creative ideas to improve a community’s problems was frowned upon in society. Placed in a greedy, war-stricken America run by a repressive government, Ray Bradbury’s groundbreaking novel, Fahrenheit 451, follows the protagonist Guy Montag whose occupation and sole purpose as a fireman is to burn any books discovered, due to the ban placed on them by the administration. Through his relationships with several different characters, Montag discovers the treacherous path of breaking away from society’s standards under the authority of a totalitarian government and undergoes a complete identity transformation. He risks losing his family, friends, and livelihood for the sake of preserving the knowledge

To keep the whole population content, books are banned and burned. During Montag’s conversation with Captain Beatty, Beatty says:

‘Now let’s take up the minorities in our civilization...Don’t step on the toes of the dog lovers, the cat lovers, doctors, lawyers...Authors, full of evil thoughts, lock up your typewriters...the public knowing what it wanted, spinning happily, let the comic books survive. And the three-dimensional sex magazines...Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick...’ (Bradbury 57-58)

Authors represent people who have ideas that offend minorities, or groups of people who differentiate from the majority. The public favors idealistic books over books containing thought-provoking topics. Thus, public pressure has a greater role in the banning and rejection of books than the government. In today’s society, people are frequently shunned because of the words they say, which is congruent to how books are banned in Fahrenheit 451 due to the content within