Fahrenheit 451 And Tree Of Knowledge Critical Analysis

“And the Lord said, ‘But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (KJV Gen. 2:17).’” In History there has always been a debate on whether or not knowledge is helpful or harmful, such is the debate in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a story in which society has banned books and shunned learning so all citizens will be oblivious to the nuclear war the government is raging in their own land. This is also the message in one of the most famous biblical stories in history, the story of Adam, Eve, and the Tree of Good and Evil which opened the eyes of Adam and Eve to see their own sins. The poem “Tree of Knowledge” by Bee Lovett quickly summarizes the story from Adam’s point of view. Both

They both show the consequences of gaining knowledge and of staying ignorant, and why both gaining knowledge and staying ignorant help the oppressive forces gain power over the human race.

In both Fahrenheit 451 and “Tree of Knowledge” the main characters are struggling with the decision of whether or not they should stay blissful and ignorant or unhappy and wise. In Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Mrs. Bowles exclaims before stomping off from Montag 's “offensive” poetry, “Silly words, silly words, silly awful hurting words… why do people want to hurt people? Not enough hurt in the world, you got to tease people with stuff like that!