Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury Essay, Research Paper
One of the themes which happens to be the biggest one is
burning books because they conflict with each other and the
ideas of society. The firemen don’t fight fires, they start them
when they find books. Recollections and thoughts, writings
and teachings from the greatest minds in history go up in
flames because the government doesn’t want people to fill
their heads with it and develop an individual intelligence.
The government is afraid of the books because they
stimulate people’s minds to think for themselves and away
from the main track that the general public was expected to
follow. The government covered up the problems of the
world that still wore on, like war, and didn’t let the people
see it or have it affect them. They heard about it and that
was all. In general, people’s lives became better, but it was
of no consequence because they didn’t know what it was
like to have things not go well and as planned. A candy cane
is much sweeter after you think about eating oil.
Another reason they burn books is because t
agree and they aren’t real. The government figures that there
is no use in people thinking about things that don’t exist,
especially when each book’s ideas conflict. I think that
conflicting ideas helps us think for ourselves because we are
forced to make decisions. Making a decision is a lot better
when you have more food for thought to work with. Also, it
would be boring not to have conflicting ideas.
So many things that we value and we can be proud of in
terms of the accomplishments of the human race went up in
flames in the book. Everything from Socrates, Newton, the
Bible, Thoreau, Hans Christian Anderson and Shakespeare
was wiped out because they didn’t go together fluently with
each other and the ideas of society at that time. Even if ideas
changed, those writings could never be recovered, the ashes
never reconstructed.
I think the book was a good book for making you realize
how important books really are. I hope this book never
becomes a reality, and that it continues to be read so that
other people can see how lucky we are to have them.