Fahrenheit 451 Book Report

At 159 pages long, Fahrenheit 451 is a classic dystopian fiction novel, written by Ray Bradbury. This book is very well known and has won several awards over its extensive life of over 60 years. It shares important themes which have caused it to become a classic amongst readers of several generations.

Bradbury’s novel follows Guy Montag, who is the main protagonist throughout the book. Ironically, Montag is a fireman whose job is to start fires. He lives in a dystopian society where books are banned and his job is to burn them. This society consists of people who think to themselves, enjoy nature and watch absurd amounts of television instead of reading books. More major characters include Guy’s wife, Mildred, and his fire chief, Captain Beatty.

Mildred is a sickly old woman who is addicted to watching T.V. and refuses to converse with her husband about their marriage or relationship. Throughout the book the reader can’t gather much information about Mildred but several events indicate the great internal pain she suffers. Captain Beatty is an ironic character because he gained his vast knowledge by reading books, but hates them and people who like to read them. He plays an important role as he explains to the reader how books came to be banned.
The main conflict in the book is the internal struggle for Guy to find a purpose in his meaningless life as well as the external conflict of Guy vs. the society in which he lives. He strives for meaningful human interaction in a world where it is scarce and he is extremely unsatisfied with his life. In an attempt to mend this dissatisfaction, he uses the books he is supposed to be burning and looks for an answer to his problems.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the important message and how it illustrates a world without books and reading. It shows the importance of reading on a larger scale, with a whole society that keeps to themselves and only cares about their televisions. One example that shows this is how people stop interacting like normal when all they have are their TVs and radios and no books. Without books, people didn’t even desire to interact with one another. Another thing I liked about this book was the use of literary elements such as irony and paradoxes. Irony is sprinkled everywhere in this book as seen by the main character's occupation: a fireman who starts fires. Also the use of paradoxes is interesting. For example, Montag’s room is described as “not empty” but “indeed empty”. This describes how Mildred is physically there but it were as if she weren’t because she was too focused on her television. One thing I didn’t like as much was the depressing mood and tone of the book. Certain violent actions throughout the book such as suicide attempts and murders, developed a dark, depressing tone that could be unenjoyable at times.
This book is comparable to several other dystopian novels such as The Hunger Games and the Divergent series because all share stories of future worlds where there is a drastic change from the society we know. Overall, this is an awesome book and i would recommend it for people who enjoy these utopian or dystopian novels or anybody who enjoys well-known classic books.