Fahrenheit 451A brief Overview

A detailed Summary of Fahrenheit 451A brief Overview

Fahrenheit 451...The Temperature at Which Books Burn

Fahrenheit 451 portrays censorship in the future through the fictional story of one man, Guy Montag, who undergoes an "awakening" by realizing the significance of his actions and the need to express the ideas that were bring oppressed by the future government.

Guy Montag is a fireman who appears to be heartily supportive and contributive to the burning of books, which is normal because firemen in the conformist future burn books for a living. He meets Clarisse McClellan, a sixteen year old idealist with strong convictions against the social structure that oppresses individual thinking and demands conformity. Clarisse opens his mind to new concepts and from then on he begins to perceive the world differently.

One day, Guy and the other firemen have to burn down the book-infested house of an elderly lady who refuses to leave her house and her books, so she burns to the ground with her books making Guy realize that "There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there." (p.51) Guy sneaks two books from the lady's home and as the time goes by, he secretly reads many books until his wife discovers

The loss that was suffered when the firemen burned the books at Fahrenheit 451 is the same loss we suffer when we censor an idea or voice to make it more conformed. If we feel our ideas are being censored, if our "books are being burned", we need to take a stand. Each time we let ourselves be censored, unique ideas are being destroyed and forgotten. Each time we let a "book burn", we lose a piece of humanity. Ray Bradbury says Fahrenheit 451, censorship, is temperature at which "books burn" (we lose a piece of humanity). Bradbury wanted us to understand that when we cede to censorship, we lose a piece of humanity.

My first impression of Guy Montag was that I thought he was the antagonist. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy burning books and he didn't even seem to have one thought of remorse. "It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. [Guy Montag thought]". (p.3) I noticed right away that Guy was very observant because as he walked home, he could "sense" the energy of someone else. "His inner mind, reaching out to turn the corner for him , had heard the faintest whisper. Breathing? Or was the atmosphere compressed merely by someone standing very quietly there, waiting?" (p.5) The last aspect of my first impression was that Guy Montag was a bit to proud and arrogant because when Clarisse didn't give

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Approximate Word count = 924
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels