Fahrenheit 451 is written by Ray Bradbury in 1950 and was published in 1953 by Ballantine Books. It has 158 pages that split up into three parts. Fahrenheit 451 is a novel that talks about a future society that decides to ban all reading materials. Guy Montag, a fireman who burns books as his job, meets a girl. The only problem is that this girl loves reading books. He then begins to re-think about his job and see what the purpose is. Bradbury uses symbolism and imagery throughout this novel. The novel is about instant gratification and how technology has changed our lives. The characters live in a world where destruction is okay and the government does not have checks and balances.
The novel begins at a burning site in where books are burned and thrown out. Guy Montag, a fireman who burns books as living, walks home after a long day at work. While he was walking home from work, he meets up with a girl name Clarisse McClellan. She happens to be his new neighbor and so they both started to converse with one another. She is the complete opposite of whoever Montag has ever met. As they walk together, Montag proudly talks about his job as a fireman. Clarisse ponders about love and happiness, things Montag would never consider, and most importantly, the contents of the books he burns. As they reach Clarisse’s house, she asks him if he is happy in what he does. He thought of that as a ridiculous question, but then later on he answers yes in his mind.
On the rest of the way home, he could not stop thinking about Clarisse. But once he entered his house, the image of her is instantly erased. As Montag enters his bedroom he finds an empty bottle of sleeping pills lying on the floor next to his bed. He discovers that his wife, Mildred has overdosed herself. He then calls the emergency squad to come and save his wife. The paramedics come by, but they act hastily, which shows how their society is like. The following day, Mildred acts as if her attempt at suicide never happened. The interaction between Mildred and Montag does not show any love and happiness that a married couple should have. Like any other citizen in this society, Mildred is obsessed with her parlor, which is a television screen as big as a wall.
Montag’s mood lightens up as he meets up with Clarisse along the way to his work. In the fire station the alarms goes off, which indicates the firemen that there is a person in possession of books. It turns out to be a woman who stashed books in her house. The firemen begin to destroy the smuggled goods. Montag beg the woman to leave her house because the entire home will be destroyed. She refuses to leave with her precious books. Beatty, a fireman and Montag’s friend, counts to ten until he burns the place with 451 Fo. The home, along with the woman and her books, is set aflame. But during the incident, Montag secretly steals one the books and tucks it into his jacket.
Later in the same night, Montag tried to discuss his day with Mildred, in which she is not interested in. During the discussion, Montag discovers that Clarisse is dead. Mildred said that she was killed in a car accident. The next day, Montag decides to call in sick, but by his surprised Beatty visits him. He knows that Montag is keeping a book and is interested in reading it. Beatty tells Montag that it is normal for a fireman to itch for a book at some point in his career. He also tells him that even though he may keep the book for 24 hours, he must return to work with the book in his hand and destroy it as planned. Beatty tries to brainwash Montag on how books are silly and wrong. Later on in the day, Montag confesses to his wife that he has been hiding a bunch of books in their ventilator shaft. She panics and tries to burn the books in their kitchen incinerator, but he stops her. Montag attempts to read the books to Mildred, but she does not want to comprehend what he is reading.
Up at this point, Montag remembers an old, retired English professor, names Faber. He then decides to visit his house to gain more knowledge on books and literacy. Upon reaching Faber’s house, he is greeted with fear. Faber worries that Montag is there to burn his house and books, but he quickly calms down once he saw the book and sees that he just wants to talk. Within their conversation they came up with a plan. The plan consisted on planting the books, setting the alarm, and watch as the firemen’s houses burn. Faber gives Montag a seashell radio so they can communicate with each other.
Montag returns home and finds that his wife has two of her friend over, Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles. They are watching the parlor, but Montag interrupts them by starting a conversation about children and politics. He began to read “Dover Beach”, which he thought it will enlighten them. Instead, it caused problems for himself and scared the two women out of the house. Mildred is then angry at Montag for scaring away her friends. He then felt a sight of weakness, but Faber spoke to Montag with motivational words that get him to go to work.
In the firehouse, Montag sees Beatty and other firemen playing poker. He sits down, but does not play with them. Beatty then decides to talk about literature. As he continues on his lecture, Montag is showing signs of nervousness. Faber talks into the earpiece and calmly tells Montag that Beatty is just trying to confuse him. The alarm sounds and the firemen jump on the Salamander and goes to the location. By his surprise, Montag realizes that they had stopped in front of his house. Mildred came fleeing out of the house with their beetle. It was her that set the alarm. Beatty indicated that this would happen when he sent the Hound to Montag’s neighborhood. Montag informs Faber that the firemen will soon burn his house. Faber tells him to run away, but Beatty tells him to give in his books. Beatty then realizes a green chip in Montag’s ear and menace to kill Faber. This caused anger up in Montag, so he kills Beatty with his flame thrower. He tries to escape, but the Mechanical Hound fights him and he loses a leg.
When Montag and Faber meet up again, he tells him to get rid of everything that will track him down. They said their farewells and hope to see each other again. Montag then leaves his city to find another in where literature is admired. He ends up at a river in the south and he finds a group of men who admires literature just like him. Montag has lost his books, but he remembers parts of the Bible. In just seconds, he sees that the city is destroyed and the people living there have died. Although Mildred was his wife and died along with the city, he does not feel miserable because he felt that she was just a stranger to him. The men continue to walk, with Montag as the leader, to a place where literacy is the heart of the city.
Bradbury introduces the audience to a character named Guy Montag, who is the protagonist of the story. He is both a dynamic and omniscient character. He begins to think that his is happy with his lifestyle, but then he soon realizes that burning books are wrong. Clarisse McClellan and Faber are also protagonists. With her kind actions towards Montag, she is given to be a static character. Faber is a dynamic character because he was once a coward, but he became brave when he decides to help out Montag. Mildred, Beatty, Mrs. Bowles and Mrs. Phelps are all antagonists and static characters.
The setting of this novel takes place during the twenty-fourth century. In the city the characters live in, literacy does not matter to them. Violence is ubiquitous in this city.  As the paramedics carelessly take in Mildred when she attempted suicide, you can tell that death is not serious. People are unhappy and that wars are very common.
The exposition of this novel was when Montag and Clarisse meet up and start a conversation. It is a significant scene because it makes the audience speculate why Clarisse is attracted to Montag. The rising action of the novel was when Montag secretly grabs a book from the burning house of a woman who refused to leave and when he confesses to his wife that he has been hiding a stash of books in their house. He visits Faber, an old English professor, because he wanted to learn more about books and literature. The climax was when Montag realizes that the firemen are burning his house. As Beatty finds the green chip in Montag’s ear, he threatens to kill Faber, which led Montag to kill Beatty. The falling action was when Montag finds a group of men who admires literature just like him. At last, the resolution was their disappearance of the city and continuing on the path to a new life where literacy matters.
The theme of this novel was knowledge against ignorance. Bradbury wanted to let the audience know what life would be like if literacy was not implemented in our society. He proved that the world would be terrible without it. Through the actions of the firemen burning books, which destroy knowledge, it promotes ignorance in making the society the same. When Clarisse opens up to Montag, he finds himself unable to believe that life will be more complete and satisfying if knowledge is welcomed. After his discovery, he fights ignorance and tries to help others welcome knowledge into their lives. For example, when Montag comes home and reads a book to his wife and her friends.
The title Fahrenheit 451 is appropriate for this book because it is the temperature in which the books are burn. The tone of the novel is dramatic. The characters are extreme rather than realistic. For example, Clarisse is the strange yet intelligent outsider; Beatty is the secretly intellectual villain, and Mildred the vacant wife. The events are also extreme, when Montag kills Beatty by using a flame thrower, for example.
Ray Bradbury was born on August 20, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He died on June 5, 2012 in Los Angeles, California making him 92-years-old. He died from an unknown illness. He was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet. He wrote more than three dozen novels including The Illustrated Man, The Martian Chronicles, and of course, Fahrenheit 451. He also wrote hundreds of short stories during his life. He also wrote for the theater and cinema, which included the screenplay of Moby Dick by John Houston. He has been nominated for an Academy Award for his animated film Icarus Montgolfier Wright and has won an Emmy Award for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree. Mr. Bradbury and his wife Maggie has been married since 1974. They both lived in Los Angeles with numerous cats. Together, they raised four daughters and eight grandchildren up until his wife passed away in November 2003.
“Fahrenheit 451 is a classic science fiction novel and a powerful commentary on humankind’s urges to suppress what it doesn't understand.” (Michael Berry. Rev. of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Common Sense Media: Print.) I agree with this comment because it does talk about how the world would be like if literacy did not matter. People may not understand what life would be like if literature is taken away from us completely and this book can show them. It really shows how humankind is with technology taking upon our lives. “Fahrenheit 451 is a thought-provoking satire on the dangers of not thinking for oneself, and it gets one considering about the society that could result if we do not stand up for what is right and good.” (Good2learn. Rev. of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Common Sense Media: Print.) I agree with this person’s review because it does talk about how life would be like if we do not consider literacy in our lives. I do agree that if we do not stand up for what we believe in then the result would not be what we wanted and it may be very different from what we wanted. It takes a one man to make a difference, but millions to change the world.
This novel was very informative and miraculous. While reading it, it gave me a sense of how life can be so different with such little change, such as not having literacy in our lives. It made me realize that technology is not all that. We should not rely on technology in our lives even though it is a huge impact into our lives. I highly recommend this book to people who rely on technology too much. Literature is the most essential subject in life.