Fahrenheit 451

I recently read Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury in 1953. It takes place in a future United States where all books except government propaganda are illegal. All books and the houses in which they are found are burned by firemen, as all houses are fireproofed. A surprising number of the book’s other predictions have come true. In the book, everyone is addicted to their wall-size TVs, kind of like big-screen TVs today. Everyone only wants to have fun. They are obsessed with buying into the latest trend, like fancy cars or shiny gadgets. What’s interesting about this book is that, unlike most dystopias, the government isn’t some totalitarian, Big Brother-like regime that brutally oppresses and terrorizes the people. In fact, it’s exactly the same as our government today, except for the book-burning part. The government didn’t force the dystopia on the people, they brought it on themselves. The people stopped reading of their own accord, distracted by their fancy cars and TVs, and when the government quietly stepped in and banned books, almost no one batted an eyelash. The “almost” part is what is important to the book. The main character is Guy Montag, a fireman whose job is to burn books. He peacefully goes on with his life until he meets a seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse McClellan, who asks him a simple question: “Are you happy?” At first Guy thinks of course I’m happy, what a silly question to ask. But then he realizes that he actually isn’t happy at all with his life. He becomes intrigued by books, wondering what is so dangerous about them that they have to be burned. He steals a copy of the Bible from a book-burning, even though the registries at the fire station say there are no copies of the Bible left in the country. He tracks down a retired college professor he met once named Faber. Faber sends Montag into the forest after Montag’s wife discovers the stolen book and calls the firemen. In the forest, Montag meets a group who memorize the contents of entire books so they can be written again when the people realize they need them.

I highly recommend Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury has an excellent writing style with lots of figurative language. The book also has an interesting and clever plot.