Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury: An Analysis

“Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories ” (150). No one in Montag’s world is truly alive. They all go through life like the undead, completely unaware of their surroundings. They never stop to appreciate life and everything that makes it wonderful. This is the world of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a dystopian science fiction story that takes place in a not so distant future eerily similar to our world now. Free thought and knowledge are banned. Books are burned, laughter is silenced, and walking is punished. Most terrifying of all, no one misses anything. No one realizes that they have been reduced to mere husks of human

At the beginning of the story, Montag is very pleased with his life. He feels a disturbing amount of thrill when he burns down houses filled with books. “It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (1). This inner monologue perfectly sums up Montag’s starting point in his journey. He takes the same blind pleasure in superficial things as the rest of his society. He is burning down a house filled with books and all he cares about is how pretty the fire looks. At this point in his life fire is nothing but a spectacle to him. It’s just as empty and meaningless as the rest of his life and provides only immediate sensory pleasure. He enjoys it while it lasts and forgets about it almost immediately after. This outlook is almost immediately destroyed when he meets Clarisse Mcclellan, a bright seventeen year old who still finds joy in the little things of life. Her innocently blunt questions strike something with Montag, starting a dissonance deep within him. “Are you happy?” (7). Montag keeps laughing uncomfortably around Clarisse and finds himself unable to answer her questions. Even though he doesn’t know it, Montag has just received his call to adventure. He now subconsciously knows that there is something wrong with his society and that he couldn’t be further from being happy. Now that Montag is experiencing discomfort, he has been invited to start a journey of change and self