Theme Of Choice In Fahrenheit 451

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” - Martin Luther King Jr.. The concept of choice is one prevalent in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The society created by Bradbury in the novel is one where the people are virtually without the means to choose anything. People are ignorant to the world of others, and even their own, mindlessly accepting whatever information authority or the media hands to them. This is perpetuated by the illegality of reading books. Most individuals in this world seek no alternative to their situation, however, there are a few revolutionaries who
Beatty visits Montag at his home, urging,
The important thing for you to remember, Montag, is we’re the Happiness Boys, the Dixie Duo, you and I and the others, We stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought. We have our fingers in the dike. Hold steady, Don’t let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world. We depend on you. I don’t think you realize how important you are, we are, to our happy world as it stands now… take my word for it, I’ve read a few in my time, to know what I was about, and the books say nothing!
Likewise, they will be able to explain why society met its downfall and impart upon others the value of choice, understanding, and thought that can discourage future mistakes. Similarly, Montag himself changes completely and becomes part of the intellectual community he longed for, where thought and discussion are valued and he is able to experience the profundity of literature. As a consequence of their societal deviance, Montag and the woodsmen personally benefited from their choices, and the future of the United States’ humanity did as well, while those who conformed to the toxic culture of their era faced