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

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Most people have a sense of what obedience is towards an established authority. Many may fail to see the significance of its application in their society because they do not think about it. Thus its likely is that the very citizens that constitute the society are the reason that a method of control, like censorship, even exists. In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist Guy Montag is a fireman who sets fires in a futuristic American city. People living in this society are so censored and do not have worthwhile conversations, or communicate with others, read and, think for themselves. Rather, these people watch extravagant amounts of television on sets that dominate the walls and listen to the radio on “Seashell Radios” fastened to their ears, living but not living. Members of this society mechanically focus only on entertainment, immediate appeasement and speeding through life. Montag, initially a robot too, goes through a sort of awakening and begins to question the very values of what his society constituted of. The fireman’s job is to eliminate knowledge and books, and to encourage ignorance in order to maintain a homogenous society. Many factors contribute to this type of censorship, even the citizens themselves. When Guy Montag meets the young Clarisse McClellan, she ignites a dangerous curiosity with her thought provoking questions that causes him to question his job, and his society. However, people continue to believe that censorship is justifiable because it is for the betterment of society. As Montag struggles to understand why his society is the way it is, his consequent search for the comprehension/ knowledge he gains from books shatters the unquestioning ignorance he used to share with everyone else and ul...

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...when he ordered Montag to burn his house because of the book inside, he represented the society as an entirety which has ordered Montag to do so in the past to oppress others. In turn, Montag turns his flamethrower on Beatty and burns him to a crisp. Montag then runs off and escapes.

Montag realizes that books are palpable expressions of knowledge and of the truth as he is no longer ignorant like the rest of his society. He desires a greater verisimilitude hidden beneath his society’s hierarchy of nothingness, suppressive lies and temporary, insipid pleasures, and books exemplify this truth. Montag’s unconscious force is overpowering his conscious self. His defiance and yearning for truth are inborn but have been repressed by a culture that strives for ignorance.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. “Fahrenheit 451.” New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks 2013.

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