F451 Critical Analysis Essay
“Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean.” In Fahrenheit 451, it is illegal to read or even have books; it’s firemen's jobs to burn books. Their society is shielded from knowledge, until Montag, a fireman, meets Clarisse and his whole life is changed. She shows him how to see the world in a new way. Montag starts to read the books instead of burning them. Throughout the book it’s shown that, censorship stops society from growing, stops people’s thinking and finding true happiness because the government wants total control over it’s citizens. The government’s censorship has stopped society from growing by stopping them from reading and watching the originals. The book states,”’Classics cut to fit fifteenth-minute radio shows, then cut again to fill a two-minute book column, winding up at last as a ten-or twelve-line dictionary resume’” (54). Over time, pieces of writing have been cut shorter and shorter. Now its not even the same thing you’re reading. The tiny blurbs aren’t making people think for themselves at all; people just read it and are done. The tiny blurbs aren’t giving anyone any new knowledge. Eventually the society actually gets dumber and people don’t try to further their knowledge. The book states,”’It’s not books you need, it’s some of the things that once were in books… The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through radios and televisions but are not’”(82). In today’s society, books are being read less and less. They get replaced by movies and tv shows; people would much rather take the easier route and watch it instead of spending time to read it and truly understand it. But the problem is that the tv shows and movies don't keep the same qualities as the books do. Skills like inferring, predicting, comprehension and others, are developed while reading, when people stop reading, they stop using and developing these skills. Without these, it’s harder