Fahrenheit 451 Knowledge Essay

Write an essay on the importance of knowledge. In your introduction and conclusion, you should also relate what happened in the novel to what is happening today.

Imagine living in a society where knowledge is viewed as imperfection and is believed to engender conflict. So, they are eradicated and ignorance is promoted. This novel “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury illustrates a society where the government has gained control over its people by telling them what to think instead of letting them think for themselves. Guy Montag, a fireman, who burns books, takes a certain amount of pride in his job. It is not until he meets a seventeen year old girl named Clarisse McClellan, who opens his eye to the emptiness

of his life and shows him that he is actually unhappy. Montag's curiosity of books increases and one day, he decides to take a book from his work instead of burning it. This creates a conflict which destroys his city by bombs and leaves Montag no choice but to join a group of survivors like him outside of the city.
Montag’s hope to save his society from ignorance fails and once again people who destroy knowledge gets victory. The characters in this book view knowledge as something that creates conflict and makes the people unhappy. So, the only way to prevent this is to destroy all the sources of knowledge that exists in their society to prevent people from thinking. However, what they don't understand is that knowledge is the building block of a man's future as it makes them successful, potent, independent, and accompanies them in the journey of life and prosperity.
Lack of knowledge has made their society dull, depressing, imbecile, and doleful, but their minds are controlled by the government to make them believe that they are actually happy and satisfied.These people in the novel are all blinded to the knowledge around them. Their life has no value instead they stay home all day in empty room just surrounded by TV’s big as their walls and in their ears the little sea shells with an electric sound of music, talk coming in and ocean noises. Mildred, Montag's wife wears two sea-shells and she also had a very forgettable memory. She has swallowed a whole bottle of pills, laid in her bed unconscious, has people operate on her but still she didn't recollect a thing.She rejects doing such a silly thing when Montag points out to her about “[her] taking two pills and forgetting about it and taking two more and again forgetting about it until [she] had thirty or forty of them in [her]” (19). Mildred had been brainwashed by watching TV and listening to the seashell in her ears that she failed to even remember what she was doing the moment before. She had been surrounded in this world of ignorance that she was unable to even remember swallowing a whole bottle of pills. Ignorance makes people’s life valueless and empty just like Mildred’s life.
Montag and Mildred also have no relationship; Montag believes he loves her but it's not until he meets Clarisse McClellan that he realizes that he and his wife do not love each other.

Infact he does not even recollect the first time they met or falling in love with her. The moment he realizes how ignorant he has become is when he is told he is “not in love with anyone”(22). For the first time, Montag commences to apprehend that there is more to life than what he has. The moment Clarisse McClellan strikes him with these words, he realizes that his love for his wife is dead and that they barely even spend time together. She watches her television; he goes to work, and this repetitive routine caused the death of their relationship.In an ignorant society people do not understand what, love, happyness and to be independent, without the government controlling their each moves and emotions, feels like. Whereas knowledge helps them understand these things as it gives them new ideas and resources to figure out how to be powerful, happy and independent

themselves.
No knowledge causes lack of communication. No one knows how to verbalize with each other because they have no new ideas or thoughts they could share with one another. This has even made communication between couples a struggle, which is also one of the reason Montag did not love his wife; he couldn't bond with her. Montag’s wife stayed home all day watching television and with the seashells in her ear, she couldn't even hear what Montag is saying instead she would have read his lips in order to understand. This makes Montag feel like "Nobody listens any more, [he] can't talk to the walls because[he feels] they're yelling at [him],and [he]can't talk to [his]wife; she listens to the walls”.(82).For Montag books are commenced to be a form of communication, where you can share your thoughts and ideas from. He doesn't just want to read them on his own but he insists his wife to read it with him. He wants people to listen and understand.So, it is important to be knowledgeable in order to relate, bond and understand to what others are saying.
However, it is not completely the people's fault for creating such an ignorant society.

The government has controlled the people through intimidation and fear ignore sources of knowledge. For example, they used mechanical hound to engender fear in people because it senses differences throughout society and anyone who is caught contravening the government would be dispensed.The government also burns books and destroys every source of knowledge in order to control their citizens minds. Montag feels there is something special in these books, but the truth is, “there is nothing magical about books at all but the magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for [us]”(83). What Montag doesn't understand is that he doesn't need books in order to assimilate knowledge, but what he needed are the things that are in the book, the same things can be projected through television and radios but are not. Since this is such an ignorant society the government has been able to control their citizens by preventing them from gaining knowledge so they can run the town the way they

want.
As much as knowledge can bring happiness into a man's life, it can also bring sadness. Eradicating all the sources to knowledge, however, does not end the sorrowness, Instead, it makes people ignorant. Man is the creator of knowledge and the destroyer of one as well. In this book, men were the ones, who created all the eradication, wars and fights. Man created this ignorant society, but he once built the society of knowledge as well. Mankind is the one who “builds up a body of knowledge and then he destroys it and falls into dark age”(156). Ignorance of man causes destruction of knowledge that they had built, and the ignorance leads them into the darkest age in human history. So, knowledge is important to prevent the human society from falling into this darkest age.
This is also another reason Mildred never bonded with his wife. Both of their ignorance has destroyed the love that once existed. Even after she tried committing suicide, he was afraid he felt “strange, [that he] doesn't miss her, and [he] doesn't feel much of anything”(155). Mildred has no reason to miss his wife. She hasn't left anything behind for him; she doesn’t give her love or care to him. Instead, she loved her television more than him. Montag was being his true character and Mildred was just a burden to him because people who are ignorant are just a burden in the society.
The acquisition of knowledge helps man a lot with his problems. If there was no knowledge than the society would not be advanced like it is today.Without knowledge a man does not have the ability to think or feel, like the characters in this book, there life would become depressing, dull and doleful.However, knowledge can prevent such ignorance from taking over the society as it gets people to communicate and share their new ideas with one another. These new knowledge that they have gained then, makes them powerful, intelligent and successful. knowledge is important for a man and a society as a whole to prevent them from being brainwashed by ignorance. Ignorance not only brainwashes people but it prevents people from verbalizing with one another and steals their happiness as well. In today's society technology has caused ignorance. Similar to the novel our society today is addicted to their televisions, sea-shells which resembles headphones or earbuds, and they hardly even communicate with each other due to the same reason in the novel which is ignorance. So, knowledge is important because it has the ability to destroy the ignorance in our society and also without knowledge a man cannot accomplish anything in his life as it is the only key to success in life.