The Theme Of Knowledge In Fahrenheit 451

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At the beginning of Fahrenheit 451, we meet our protagonist: Guy Montag. After burning down a house and destroying the illegal books hidden inside, he returns home to his aloof wife only to find her overdosed on sleeping pills. The next day, Mildred Montag acts as if nothing had happened and she had merely passed out after drinking too much at the ‘party’ they had, but however many times she denied it, it was clear that she was fully conscious of her attempted suicide the night before. When Guy tries to enlighten her of what really happened, she steadfastly interrupts him until he agrees to her version of the story. Her actions show how depressed and fed up with life she is despite her nonchalant outward demeanor; furthermore, she has little interaction with other people choosing to spend her time talking to her TV ‘family’ instead. She is always seen with a seashell thimble radio in her ear showing her reliance on technology.
Theme - Wisdom/Knowledge vs Ignorance …show more content…

Most of the people in this dystopian society are ignorant; however, they perceive themselves as highly knowledgeable.
“Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information.” (page 61)
Captain Beatty explains how people in this society are fed an endless stream of simple facts so they feel smart when in fact, they are ignorant of reality. Not knowing what they are missing out on, nobody rebels; the rulers of the society purposefully keep their citizens ignorant so they can be easily controlled. To the people, the numerous facts fed to them are enough to quench their curiosity but the few who question the society's ideas and laws are shunned, if not condemned. Everything that may cause controversy, which includes all books, are destroyed.
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