Fahrenheit 451 – book report

I found Fahrenheit 451 a very eye-opening novel into what could come into our future.  I was shocked by the reality that it presented to me about how technology has advanced to the point where we no longer need to use our brains.  I felt saddened to read how numbingly blind people had become and this reality the author presents in which books are illegal, is disheartening and painful to imagine, but too easy to. 

We already have a modern world obsessed with technology and easy access to information online which is making us lazy. Lots of people don’t see the point in reading books, We prefer to go online to find information as it is quicker and easier. The days of the collections of encyclopedias are gone. Most modern-day households have electronic devices and access to the internet. We talk to each other using social media and post photos of our daily lives. We have photoshop to make things look better than they really are. It’s easy to create a fake life, to only share the nice things. In my own home, we have lots of books, but we rarely get them out to read anymore. If anyone wants to know something, they are quick to ‘google it’  or ‘ask Siri’. My parents used to be a reader of novels but now they watch Netflix or tv on demand instead. They tell me that when they were studying at university it was a race to get to the library to get the good books, but now it’s easy just to look it up on the internet. I can’t imagine living without the internet!

The story of burning books in Fahrenheit 451 starts with people only being allowed to write books without any bad characters, nothing to offend, but as people continue to complain, the government bans them altogether. Interestingly the book Fahrenheit 451 itself has been banned in some places due to the use of ‘problematic language” such as “god damn’ in the book and the burning of the bible. 

As in real life, we are increasingly being protected from things that could harm us. We live in far better conditions than we used to and have numerous rules to protect us from things we don’t like. In the end Fahrenheit 451 ends with war as the society is no longer able to live in such an artificial way anymore. 

In the book people become so shielded from things that upset them and have no experiences to teach them how to deal with things,  they start to lose the ability to cope with their emotions. 

The theme of justice presents itself throughout the book after Montag starts to be awakened to the truth about his society and what it’s become. After connecting with what Ray Bradbury was portraying of this society lost to brainwashing technology I understand how taking away knowledge, particularly through the form of books and turning it into something illegal, is in itself is a crime. Like in the book though people don’t see it until they can no longer cope with the life they are living. 

“But you can’t make people listen. They have to come round in their own time, wondering what happened and why the world blew up around them. It can’t last.”

For every crime, justice can be served if understood correctly. In the text, we learn how justice is a form of holding on and fighting for what is right even if they have to fight from within the shadows. Montag and the men he meets portray justice for the authors who spent their lives developing this knowledge and for the people who have lost any sense of individuality due to the deprivation of knowledge and opinion. They are the heroes of the future and use the power of remembering to hold onto what was taken away from them and to someday get justice for the burning of knowledge and give it back to the world. 

Granger states, ” All we want to do it keep the knowledge we think we will need, intact and safe… We’re remembering. That’s where we’ll win out in the long run. And someday we’ll remember so much that we’ll build the biggest goddam steam-shovel in history and dig the biggest grave of all time and shove war in and cover it up.” 

I see the justice in this as through everything that went wrong and all knowledge that was lost there are still these people out there doing their all to rebuild a society that has the information that was destroyed by a society corrupted by technology. I found it heartbreaking to understand how technology turned people into robots: all the same, opinionless and blind.  I believe the reason why I was so shocked by how characters such as Millie, Montag’s wife, was explained as I could see it easily becoming an outcome in our real future. An example of Millie’s attachment to technology is understood when the text states, “Will you turn the parlor off?” he asked. “That’s my family.” Montag has asked for no technology and Millie’s reply is no because she finds herself so close to the television she doesn’t know what she would do without it. 

From this, I see how in this future reality, technology has replaced real human connection and she finds no need to actually speak with her husband for she had the TV. Technology at current is viewed upon as a blessing as a new era of advancement into a greater future but in Fahrenheit 451 I learn how it can be just as destructive and dehumanising as helpful. From this book, I became aware of how glued to our phones we all are these days and how addicted to technology we all are. Walk into a home and every person has their own electronic device. Each person might be watching a different show or doing something different. Someone comes to stay and one of the first things they ask for is the wifi password. 

Already we believe so much of what we are told on the internet but don’t want to acknowledge the dark negative outcomes of it as already to this day it takes over our lives and affects our judgements. We are afraid to lose it.  I believe the author is trying to get us to understand exactly that, to use this book and this reality he created as a warning to not let anything make decisions for you. The importance of individuality and truly making choices, decisions and opinions on what you feel rather than what you are told or shown to feel. I felt encouraged to obtain and learn more information and I feel as if this book by it’s self is justice to humans. To create fairness and to help us understand not to let technology or society make choices for us. For everyone deserves to believe what they want and laws and government do not have the right to take this away from people.