Fahrenheit 451

Dystopia
They aren’t able to think for themselves 4
They aren’t truly happy
They burn books/ destruction of knowledge (going back to the dark ages)4 People are afraid of firemen
Violence and the speeding car = a disrespect for life
The government is disrespectful and miss treats the people
Suicide – Mildred is not even aware that she tried to commit suicide 4
Fear 4
Break down of family 4 The war
The enemy is never identified
The war doesn’t seem to stop
The war is serious/it’s nuclear

WHAT DOES THE BOOK BURNING SYMBOLISE 1 removal of knowledge
2 the government and the firemen are in control of power

In the novel The firemen sever the government but in life they serve the people and they help the people.( in the novel they are turning into a police for that is why we don’t here much about the police in the novel)

Books give us knowledge and spark our imagination and if you destroy books it is like destroying knowledge. This helps the government to be unchanged (it is like a dictatorship)

If you stop knowledge and imagination you stop idea in the population and once you have stopped these factors in a community you stop people from thinking.

3 book burning stops individuality
Book burning symbolises destruction of individuality because they are all the same. It is the same as saying if everyone was blind.

FAHRENHEIT 451 ASSIGNMENT

a) What is dystopian about this world?

The main dystopian event that occurred in the novel Fahrenheit 451 is book burning which is carried out by firemen. This the opposite of what happens in the real world. In the real world firemen stop fires but in Fahrenheit they are the main culprits of book burning and fire making. In Fahrenheit it is like the civilisation is going back to the dark ages. In real life the public are not afraid of firemen but in the novel they are feared.

Another event that makes Fahrenheit a dystopian world is that the citizens of the city are mentally lost and can’t remember things or do things individually. Mildred who is guy montages wife (the main character) tried to commit suicide and when people told her what she tried to do she didn’t believe them she is also lost because she has 3 televisions and watches them all at the same time she is even trying to get a 4th TV in her parlour. At night while Montag is trying to sleep she has all the TVs on and they are on max volume. One day Montag was sick and he asked his wife if she could turn the TVs off for peace and she said that she couldn’t do that she said that she can’t turn off her family (Mildred saw the people and actors on the TV as her family). Montag tried to ask Mildred to turn the volume down and she said that she will do it but she did and it made no difference.
The government was turning families against each other (it is breaking them apart). Mildred thinks that her family is the programs on the TVs so she is now cutting Montag out of her life.

In the novel there is a war going on and know one is really aware of it. The war is not only a small war but it is nucleare this is dystopian because the government isn’t taking a nuclear war very seriously. The government is very disrespectful and this is because they should tell the citizens that there is a serious war going on.

The society in the novel is very disrespectful of human life and the character that tells us this is an important character called Clarisse. She is next door neighbours with Montag and Mildred and the first time that Clarisse and Montag meat is on a train on the way back their homes, Clarisse notices that Montag is a firemen and she says that people fear firemen when in real life they are helpful and unfeared. She also says that there is a lot of violence in the town. Another reason why the citizens have disrespect for life is when they drive their cars they drive as fast as they can and they don’t worry about anything or any one.
b) How does the book burning help us understand the true nature of this world? I.e. what does the book burning symbolise.

The novel Fahrenheit 451 is about a dystopian world. It is a dystopian world because the firemen burn books rather than put out fires. The firemen are run by the government and the government is the leader or the mastermind behind the book burning.

The book burning symbolises 3 main things in the novel. The first is the removal of knowledge and imagination, the second is that the firemen and the government control all the power and third is book burning stops individuality.

When you remove knowledge and imagination from a society it is like stopping all free thought and ideas. In the novel this is what happened to the society. The government put a stop to reading because it made people think and instead of reading they made the people watch TV, when you watch TV you don’t think as much as you do when you read a book. In the novel Mildred watches 3 TVs in her parlour and she wants to get a 4th TV. If she gets a 4th TV she wouldn’t be able to get into her parlour. This is an example that the society has stopped making sensible decisions. The government stoped people from thinking so that they would remain in power.

The government burnt books so that they could have power they also shared that power with the firemen who had the hands on job of burning the books. The firemen worked for the government but in real life the firemen work for the people. A police force was not mentioned that much in the novel because the firemen were the police force. The government also convinced the society that they were happy but they truly weren’t and this is shown when Clarisse and Montag talk, Clarisse makes Montag think and ask himself if he was truly happy.

The third point is that book burning stops individuality. If every person doesn’t read makes them all the same this stops individuality. The government wants all the society to conform and follow.