Individual Vs. Society In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

Individual vs. Society

Not all rules are always agreed on by every individual. Oftentimes people tend to keep to themselves about their differentiating views, but others fight for what they believe in. In order to make any type of progress for a specific cause, effort and determination needs to be put into a person’s every attempt towards a positive development. Individuals who rebel against an authoritarian society are often faced with the challenges to fight for what they believe in in order to make a change. Both protagonists in Fahrenheit 451 and Anthem fight to encourage the advancement of learning in society. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Montag eventually diverges from the path of the general public once he realizes that

“Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from making the same damn insane mistakes!” (70). Montag believes that by reading, society will learn from the past and possibly avoid making the same mistakes. Humanity needs books to keep itself grounded and informed of issues occurring around it. Without reading, Montag’s society becomes self absorbed and oblivious to everything but themselves. Even though the day that books become legal is far off into the distant future, Montag stops at nothing to encourage people to become open-minded to the idea of reading to educate and benefit society as a whole. Like Montag, Equality 7-2521 in Ayn Rand’s Anthem wanders from the ideals of society to suggest the idea of scholastic progressions. “Let us all work together, and harness this power, and make it ease the toil of men. Let us throw away our candles and our torches. Let us flood our cities with light. Let us bring a new light to men!” (71). Equality 7-2521 thought he was doing a good deed by introducing new technological advancements, but he was reprimanded for his hard work instead. The Council believes “What is not

Once Montag witnesses the unethical extent that the firemen would go through to destroy the existence of books, he realizes how corrupt and unjust the societal rules were. “He looked with dismay at the floor. ‘We burned an old woman with her books” (47).

“It’s not just the woman that died,’ said Montag.” “Last night I thought about all the kerosene I’ve used in the past ten years. And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books. A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper. And I’d never thought that before” (49).

Montag’s thoughts were highly taboo, but that didn’t stop him from voicing his opinions against something he knew was morally wrong. His job was supposed to be helpful to society, but he realized all he ever did was burn without mercy. He and the rest of society were brought up to believe these ethics were ordinary, but after seeing someone be physically harmed, his eyes were opened to the wicked ways of the century long public norms. In Anthem, Equality 7-2521 was put off by the idea of the general public being used for breeding purposes against their will. “Twice have we been sent to the Palace of Mating, but it is an ugly and shameful matter, of which we do not like to think” (41). Equality 7-2521 finds these ideals to be immoral and embarrassing to the individual, but that doesn’t matter to the Council