Fahrenheit 451 Theme Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Theme Essay
Fahrenheit 451 is a rich piece of literature written by Ray Bradbury, an author who packs his pieces with strong literary devices, themes, motifs and other enjoyable elements. His work can be perceived in many different ways, but this particular novel was designed to express the idea that overall, the world is better off facing their problems than pretending they don’t exist. This conclusion can be reached by paying close attention to the main character, Guy Montag, whose deeper-than-society thoughts and actions reflect Bradbury’s mind.
This same idea is hinted at through many textual examples like the following.
“Go home.” Montag fixed his eyes upon her, Quietly. “Go home and think of your second

husband killed in a jet and your third husband blowing his brains out, go home and think of the dozen abortions you’ve had, go home and think of that and your damn Caesarean sections, too, and your children who hate your guts! Go home and think how it all happened and what did you ever do to stop it? Go home, go home!” he yelled.” (pg 98)
In this scene of the book, Montag expresses his distaste for Mrs. Bowles passive lifestyle, calling her out for her lack of acknowledgement towards the negative events in her life that should have impacted her much more than they do. Her tendency to ignore the important marks of the past is a recurring issue found in the dystopian society within the book, and Montag, who represents someone truly in tune with the world around him is extremely disapproving of the mindset that society has pounded into Bowle’s head. A quote from Beatty in the third section “Burning Bright” demonstrates this same idea while explaining to Montag why books are forbidden.
“You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can’t have our minorities upset and stirred. Ask yourself, what do we want in this country, above all? People want to be happy, isn’t that right? Haven’t you heard it all your life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren’t they? Don’t we keep them moving, don’t we give them fun? That’s all we live for, isn’t it? For pleasure, for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these.”
Beatty, the antagonist, is a perfect image of the cliche citizen portrayed in their community. He’s a dedicated and loyal fireman who feels little to no sympathy for anyone who refuses to conform to his rules. With such a blunt and unchanging character, it’s difficult not to see him as the author’s example of what not to be. In this paragraph, he describes the ways in which their society is able to function. To keep order, the government completely avoids and destroys any source of disturbance including minority opinions found in books. Rather than dealing with the issues head on, they smother them. Literally. With flames. The government is so inclined to avoid inconvenience that they refuse to accept anyone who does not follow them. Later in the book, Guy Montag feels the real joys of life after escaping to the river and leaving this control behind, and is finally shown just how much he was missing after finding a group with a different approach, one where differences were embraced and dealt with as they should be.
Perhaps the strongest suggestion of this theme in the book is another one of Beatty’s quotes from page 109 in the third segment “Burning Bright”.
“What is fire?

It’s a mystery. Scientists give us gobbledegook about friction and molecules. But they don’t really know. Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences. A problem gets too burdensome, then into the furnace with it. Now, Montag, you’re a burden. And fire will lift you off my shoulders, clean, quick, sure; nothing to rot later. Antibiotic, aesthetic, practical.”
Not only is this segment a sort of irony since Beatty suffers a death drowning in kerosene and hellish heat, but also says rather directly that burdens will be gotten rid of if they grow large enough. Once again, Beatty’s negative image declares that most if not all of his words are unfit to take to heart and the near opposite should be achieved.
Once Montag finally understands his responsibility, his own willing choice to make things stop, he is enlightened and soon to be completely free.
"The sun burnt everyday. It burnt time. The world rushed in a circle and turned on its axis and time was busy burning the years and the people anyway, without any help from him. So if he burnt things with the firemen and the sun burnt time, that meant everything burnt! One of them had to stop burning. The sun wouldn't, certainly. So it looked as if it had to be

Montag."
Montag knows that burning books is wrong and sick, he knows the consequences of getting rid of such valuable pages of thought. Unlike the other fireman, he is determined to set things straight, even if it’ll create more problems to solve. He’s thoroughly convinced that it is worth it to preserve books against the thoughts of the government who doesn’t want anything that causes disruption they may have to deal with in their overly strict society. Not long after this realization, Montag is set free with his escape through the river’s current.
The decision to suppress problems rather than deal with them can easily be related to America in the 1950’s. Minorities and those with unique outlooks on the world were fighting for the government to pay attention to them and help them, but a biased group of decision makers held back many of the opportunities they needed. Society today is not nearly so oppressive and irresponsible when it comes to dealing with minorities, but there is still work to do.
Montag went through immense difficulty throughout his journey to freedom, but the rewards were more than worth it. He never would’ve made it to where he wanted to be were he not to take risks and face the issues that were thrown at his face. He dealt with Beatty, he left Mildred behind, he became free and eventually found a fulfilling life because he chose not to sit back and accept all of the troubles that society was trying to shove down his throat. Readers can always learn from the main character whether it’s from their mistakes or their successes, and Guy Montag showed everyone exactly how to deal with a problem, by facing it head on and pulling through.