Fahrenheit 451 Ignorance Quotes

725 Words2 Pages

In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, there is a dystopian society that censors books by burning them. Eventually causing a fireman named Montag to question his identity as a conformer, ultimately leading to Montag rebelling against the censorship. Montag, in the beginning, had power that came from ignorance. This theme was seen when Montag said it was against the law to Clarisse, when Montag threatened Faber when ripping the bible, and when Betty threatened Montag and Faber for being conformists. The first example of power coming from ignorance was when Montag told Clarisse that it was illegal to read a book. Montag was on his way home from the fire station when he met a girl walking by named Clarisse. She was an individual who asked Montag lots of questions, such as, How long have you …show more content…

The power comes from ignorance. Montag lacked patience and knowledge, which caused his ignorance to hurt others with power. Therefore, Montag thinks he has more power because of his title and his ignorance. The third example of power coming from ignorance is when Betty threatened Montag by saying he would burn Faber for helping him. Montag was in his house when Betty came after Mildred had told Betty about the books Montag hid. Montag was told by Betty to burn the books not with a fire hose, but with a flamethrower. When Montag did burn the books, Faber said over the earphones what Montag’s mistake was. “‘ Well, so there’s more here than I thought. I saw you tilt your head, listening. First, I thought you had a seashell. But when you turned clever later, I wondered. We’ll trace this and drop in on your friend.” (Bradbury 112). Betty was astonished when he realized that the thing in Montag's ear was not a shell, but instead a listening device. Betty’s astonishment was because Montag had been a picture-perfect conformist until he met Clarrisse. This showed that when Montag gained knowledge, he became an

Open Document