Burn the Books!
Hi everyone,
I've been reading Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 for the past couple of weeks now, and today, I'll be giving my review of this book and how it eerily connects to our modern world. Fahrenheit 451 is set in the future, where the government has outlawed books and sends "firemen" to go and burn all books. As a result, society as a whole has been dumbed down through different forms of entertainment (more on that later), and learning is not considered important. Guy Montag, the story's protagonist, is a fireman who burns books, and like most of society, despises books and truly enjoys burning them. His opinions change when he meets his new neighbor, Clarisse, whose free-spirited nature makes Guy question his life and whether he really is happy. As the novel progresses, he starts reading and becomes a rebel towards society.
I think that Fahrenheit 451 is quite interesting and thought-provoking because it connects so well to things that are happening in our world today, despite being written in 1953. First, the topic of book burning. While books are not literally being burned right now (at least in the U.S.), we are living in a time of many book challenges and bans within our public schools and libraries. In Fahrenheit 451, the government bans books because it believes that books teach "dangerous ideas" that create conflict in society. Many states and local school districts ban books because they believe that the ideas present are inappropriate or controversial, which is pretty similar to the reasons in Fahrenheit 451.
Another thing that connects really well to our modern world is the entertainment that people consume. People in Fahrenheit 451 are entertained through "parlor wall" screens, which are essentially huge TV screens. These screens feed essentially mindless, superficial entertainment to the viewer, keeping them happy and entertained. But there is no critical thinking associated with watching the content on the TV, and people are just getting dumber from watching it. I thought that this sounded a lot like social media, where people will just mindlessly consume content without thought for hours on end (I am very guilty too). Again, this book was written in 1953, and it essentially predicted brainrot.
All in all, Fahrenheit 451 is really fascinating because it offers an insight into a dystopia that's a little less far-fetched than the ones present in other novels, like 1984. In fact, many of the themes present in it are seen in our world/nation today. I recommend that you check this book out, especially if you enjoy the dystopian genre. Thank you for reading!
-Jayden
This book sounds really interesting. A lot of people wouldn't consider what we live in today as a dystopia, but if our predecessors saw how normalized brainrot and book bans have become, they could reasonably come to the conclusion that we were in a dystopian society, where what we could learn and couldn't learn was strictly controlled by the government and society. Great blog post.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I think it's really interesting how messages in this books have stayed relevant despite it being old.
ReplyDeleteHi Jayden, this seems like at good book. It's always interesting when books try to predict the future, especially when they're right. One question, is being a "fireman" a paid profession?
ReplyDeleteThe concept of the book sounds quite neat. Funny how the last name of the protagonist is just Monday in German. Thanks for the recommendation!
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