Society in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury has predicted the future through his stories, especially Fahrenheit 451. I believe Ray Bradbury was trying to send a message in this book. The theme that Bradbury was trying to use through Fahrenheit 451 is that our society needs freedom and knowledge. The society in this book is like the society we are in today. The first way that Bradbury showed this theme was using characters as a way to show different lives. For example, Clarisse was the representation of a life with feelings and purpose. Bradbury made her a curious and brave girl. Clarisse was hit by a car and killed, by a group of kids. When Clarisse was killed it represented the bad part of society, and how careless some people are about life. To show how Clarisse is, he used very fine details to show how unique of a person she was. Another example of Bradbury showing this theme through the characters would be Montag's wife, Millie, and her dull life.

Montag asks Millie this after Clarisse brought light to him. When Montag showed her the collection of books he has took through the years, her reaction right away was to throw them in the incinerator. Millie's personality represented most of the people in Fahrenheit 451's society. Bradbury contrasted these two important people in Montag's life to show different lifestyles. The next way that Ray Bradbury showed this theme of a life living with freedom and knowledge, was how Montag survived the fall of his city because of his love for the books. The books represented the truth and freedom they deserved. The story was based off of society's fear of knowledge. Bradbury used this to send out the message to go against that fear and to live the way it should be lived, even if you have to go against all the beliefs there was then. As shown through the book, the city had no idea of what was going on with the war. When asked about the war the information they have is limited. They don't even care enough to try and get more information. The reason of not knowing, is why they were led to their deaths. Montages interest in books and knowledge is what saved him.

That is what I think Bradbury was trying to get across, by destroying the city. The entire town burned to ash because of war. The final way that Ray Bradbury showed this theme was the way he had Montag meet Granger. Bradbury wanted to get across the fact that they can restart. Instead of waiting for the world to perish with no meaning, they could do something about it. Granger also told stories about his grandfather. Granger's grandpa could explain why Montag felt so empty. He doesn't want anyone to make the same mistakes of Montag and this society, like we could easily. This is Bradbury showing the theme in a different way, but of the same nature. It is definitely a message that still needs to be shown in today's society. As seen, Ray Bradbury's book was more than just a dystopian book. It was the uprising of a controlled society. There are countries and cultures where this book is an actual reality, and destroying books is the law. In the countries where we are are allowed to have books and our knowledge isn't restricted, we take all of it for granted. There was no interest. Bradbury wrote things in his stories, that showed warnings that are clearly in our society today.

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