Knowledge versus Ignorance in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

538 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Fahrenheit 451 describe the relationship between montag and clarisse

In the world, people are wired to hunt for happiness, but what they are really deeming for is satisfaction. Happiness and satisfaction are similar, but not the completely the same. Satisfaction is the content feeling you get after a big meal or taking a long nap on a Sunday afternoon, while happiness is a chosen factor that can only be achieved through willpower. Many try and search the external world for the happiness that only lies within. Clarisse asks Montag is he is happy, and we he realizes he is not, he turns to knowledge to find it (Bradbury 10). People turn to ignorance to erase the bitterness and anger from their life, while others like Montag, try to understand with intelligence, the anger and bitterness. At first he was tangle in the lies fed to him by society, but as he precedes through the novel, he realizes that he could search for happiness through intellect. In the end, Bradbury showed that knowledge and ignorance are contradictory throughout Fahrenheit 451, but that people use them both for the same reason; to find happiness.

In order to have a safe world that lacks understanding, knowledge and awareness should be destroyed. As the saying goes, Ignorance is bliss and in the world Montag lives in, that is the truth, or so it seems. Montag starts out as unknowing in the beginning. An example is when Clarisse says, “Bet I know something else you don’t. There is dew on the grass in the morning” and Montag thinks to himself that that was a simple fact he had not known (Bradbury 9). Captain Beatty is the promoter of the ignorance portrayed in this novel. He burns books, the knowledge inside them and believes that without knowledge, there will be no suffering. He states, “Burn all, burn everything. Fire ...

... middle of paper ...

...he society believes that intellect is unnecessary when you could do physical things that are fun and make you ‘happier’.

Works Cited

Lewis, Andrew. "StopPress." Ignorance Is Bliss: Why Happiness Has Nothing to Do with knowledge ::. N.p., Feb.-Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 201

Hudson, Paul. "Knowledge Is Power, Ignorance Is Bliss: Happiness Is Striking The Perfect Balance | Elite Daily." Elite Daily. N.p., 7 Feb. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

Kusnst, Jennifer. "A Headshrinker's Guide to the Galaxy." Is Ignorance Bliss? N.p., 24 Aug. 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

Burkeman, Oliver. "This Column Will Change Your Life: Ignorance v Knowledge." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 25 July 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

Caruso, Denise. "Knowledge Is Power Only If You Know How to Use It." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Mar. 2007. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • The Strange Case of Marlise Munoz and John Peter Smith Hospital

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Guardian. The Guardian. The. 10 Jan. 2014. Web. The Web.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Frankenstein And Flowers For Algernon

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    Knowledge can be the key to success and can lead people to happier life. However, there are some instances that you can not gain any more knowledge because of how it would change your whole life. The drive of wanting more and more knowledge is best portrayed through two well -known books. In Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, and in Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon, both the creature and Charlie are ostracized by society because they are different from everyone else but this distinction gave way for distinct fallouts because of their quest for knowledge beyond their reach to achieve happiness.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Ignorance In Fahrenheit 451

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    At first Montag is unaware of the true nature of his surroundings and feelings. “‘Bet i know something else you don't. There's dew on the grass in the morning.’ Montag suddenly couldn't remember if he’d known that or not, and it made him quite irritable.” (Bradbury, 7). The conversation serves to highlight his willful ignorance, the amount of things he simply never thought to realize, that existed just under his radar.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Intelligence Quotes

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through information and literature, individuals will be competent to comprehend quickly and intelligently under any circumstances. The following character known as Beatty demonstrates the traits of intelligence by using small amounts of information to plan malicious ideas against Montag and using his position as captain to order around his mechanical hound to make Montag’s life a living hell. “... Give a man a few lines of verse and he thinks he’s the Lord of all Creation. You think you can walk on water with your books. Well, the world can get by just fine without them. Look where they got you, in slime up to your lip. If I stir the slime with my little finger, you’ll drown!” ( Bradbury ) page 118. This quote reflects the traits of intelligence

    Read More

  • The Dangers of Ignorance Exposed in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the futuristic world of Fahrenheit 451 books and literature are outlawed. The population is only influenced by the technology and media they are allowed to see. They are mainly influenced by the parlors, or the T.V.’s on the walls. These parlors show exactly how the family should be and it shows no other type of family. The parlors take away a person’s ability to think for themselves. The government wants everybody to be the same. It’s human nature to want to control others or be in charge. That is why the government is continuously overseeing everything the media sends out. The people in Fahrenheit 451 believe themselves to be happy and never question what they are being told. The people in the book are ignorant to what is really going on. Ignorance vs. Happiness is a main theme in the book. In life ignorant people believe that they are happy, but in reality they don’t know what is truly going on around them so their happiness isn’t legitimate.

    Read More

  • Daniel Gilbert Immune To Reality Analysis

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    People may believe it is relatively easy to predict what would make them happiest in certain circumstances. It should be a simple task given that one spends their whole life learning what makes them happy. However, in the essay, “Immune to Reality,” Daniel Gilbert demonstrates that people often fail to correctly predict one’s own happiness. Daniel Gilbert gives various examples expressing when people make incorrect predictions about their life and how that affects their knowledge, understanding, and behaviors. That is because the unconscious mind picks up factors that influence a person’s happiness, knowledge, and understanding. These influences cause the human mind to quickly produce inaccurate reasons for why they do what they do.

    Read More

  • Farhenheit 451 Guy Montag

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    In class we read the book Fahrenheit 451. The main character Montag has several qualities that change his views and decisions throughout the book. In the beginning of the story Montag was very confirmative and just went along with everything the government and didn’t really question anything but by the end of the book he was completely different. He had changed his views completely. One reason that motivated Montag to change so drastically was his curiosity. This caused him to question things and that led to some of his other qualities such as his open-mindedness. Questioning everything and talking to new people for information allowed Montag to become more open-minded and become open to more ideas. Another quality that Montag has that lead to his in change in the story was his change over time was his childhood memories.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Marquis De Condorcet's Future Progress Of The Human Mind

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marquis de Condorcet’s Future Progress of the Human Mind depicts knowledge as being something that human beings want to achieve. To attain more knowledge on a specific thing, the information must be available through more universal education along with subjects being easier to classify. When the knowledge is available and simpler for humans, they will want to learn. Through people wanting to learn more things, new information will want to be discovered and in conclusion, be a happier place. Knowledge, in Condorcet’s eyes, is the key to happiness because it allows people to focus on life rather than surviving.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Ignorance Quotes Analysis

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thomas Gray, a poet from the eighteenth century, coined the phrase “Ignorance is bliss” in his poem, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1742), and three centuries later, this quote is commonly used to convey the message that sometimes, being ignorant of the truth can cause happiness, and knowledge can actually can be the source of pain or sadness. However, in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, this phrase is taken very literally, and knowledge is feared to the extent where books are considered illegal. Throughout The Hearth and the Salamander, Guy Montag, the main character, experiences a drastic change wherein he begins to realize that there is power in knowledge, and that this intelligence has the potential to be worth more than the so-called “bliss” that ignorance can bring.

    Read More

  • A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Film 'Happy' By Roko Belic

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    In contrast to Aristotle, Roko Belic’s documentary “Happy” provides a fresh perspective that takes place far more recently. The film sets out to similar goals of Aristotle in defining the nature of happiness and exploring what makes different people happy in general. Unlike Aristotle, however, the film’s main argument refers to makes people happier. In this case, the film argues that merely “doing what you love” is what leads to happiness (Belic). The argument itself appears oddly self-serving, considering that message is what underlines the foundation of happiness, yet there is a subliminal message that a simpler lifestyle is what leads to what the film is trying to convince you of. The message itself is obviously addressed to Americans, considering

    Read More

  • “Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave”

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    Our knowledge is a key to our success and happiness in our life to give us personal satisfaction. Knowledge is power but not always. Sometimes our self-awareness and growth as an individual gives us negative thoughts that make us want to go back to undo it. Everyone wants to unlearn a part in our life that brought us pain and problems. Good or bad experiences brought by true wisdom can be used for our self-acceptance, self-fulfillment and these experiences would make us stronger as we walk to the road of our so called “life”, but Douglas’s and my experience about knowledge confirmed his belief that “Knowledge is a curse”. Both of us felt frustrated and sad from learning knowledge.

    Read More

  • The Transformation of Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book Fahrenheit 451 , Montag undergoes major character development. He started from a weak, dependant individual, who could at most think for himself. Throughout the book, he slowly found more and more flaws in the society he had blindly trusted. At the end of the book, Montag is a strong-minded, focused individual who is not afraid to stand up for his opinion, but cares for his life. Montag sacrificed everything in his life (including his life) to stand up for his opinions, which he could never have done in the beginning of the book. Everything Montag did had a reason and he changed because of those actions.

    Read More

  • The Exploitative Colony of Virginia

    4346 Words  | 9 Pages

    Greene, Jack; Pursuits of Happiness; University of North Carolina Press; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; 1988.

    Read More

  • Naguib Mahfouz' Fountain and Tomb

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    In conclusion, in Naguib Mafouz’s Fountain and Tomb, we are faced with a central theme of Truth. It can be reasoned that most of the time the Truth (or knowledge) isn’t always something that it is necessary to know. The Truth can bring about happiness, prosperity, or a positive affect, but that seems to happen much less frequently. Sometimes being ignorant of the Truth is better because it makes lives easier and happier. People don’t necessarily need to know everything (the whole Truth), because what they don’t know can’t really hurt them. Truth comes with excess baggage, and it sometimes leads to conflict, hurt feelings, alienation, or broken hearts. As the old saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss.” Fountain and Tomb does an excellent job of illustrating that cliche.

    Read More

  • Gender Wage Inequality

    1646 Words  | 4 Pages

    N.p. 25 Oct. 2007. Web. The Web. The Web. 09 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

More about Knowledge versus Ignorance in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

Open Document