Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 (1953) is a dystopian fiction novel by Ray Bradbury that was originally published as a shorter novella in the February 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.

Plot

The story takes place in the mid 21st century, in a country whose society's goal in life is hedonistic pleasure and abandonment of self-control. By this point in time, books have been made obsolete due to the increasingly frenetic pace of life and the ever-shortening attention span of the common man ? nobody has "time" to read anymore. In the government's, and consequently the society's opinion, books contain problems and conflicting theories, books are seen as a source of unhappiness, causing people to be anxious, sad or angry. That is what the government wants to avoid, because those feelings could threaten the country's stability. The ideas in books are considered heresy and firemen are employed to burn and destroy them whenever discovered, in favour of fun and happiness. According to the authorities, Benjamin Franklin was the first fireman and people should achieve happiness by watching TV all day long or by using drugs.

Related Topics:
21st century - Hedonistic - Common man - Heresy - Benjamin Franklin - TV - Drug

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For ten years the protagonist, Guy Montag, works with grim pleasure as a fireman, seemingly committed to the concept that books have nothing to say. The stench of kerosene in his nostrils and the spark in his eyes do little, however, to mask the loneliness he feels coming home to his wife, Mildred, a woman who, at all times, seeks self-stimulation in various forms such as a miniature radio jammed in her ear at night, or the three wall TVs in the parlour, with their silly shows, lacking any sense or meaning. With the spreading of TVs, newspapers disappeared and nobody wanted them back and nobody missed them because it's so easy: you don't have to think while sitting on front of the screen.

Related Topics:
Protagonist - Kerosene - Radio

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At first, Guy is proud of his work, he thinks it is a fine job and kerosene is nothing but perfume to him, as he says. Upon meeting Clarisse McClellan, a woman living in Montag's neighbourhood, who is considered abnormal because of her compassion and her simple interest in the world around her, his way of thinking changes. Unlike Guy, she pays attention to nature, which average people don't care about anymore. She makes him reflect on life and his work. She poses essential questions to him, like if he is happy, and why things are the way they are. This results in Guy beginning to think about his situation. Clarisse dies early in the story and acts only as a catalyst to Guy's transformation. Guy develops from a loyal servant of the state's ideology to a self-confident human being with his own free will.

Related Topics:
Clarisse McClellan - Ideology

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Guy's wife Mildred loses her freewill, self-confidence, and the desire to question societal norms, prefering to sit in her parlour and watch TV on three TV walls set up around her. She seems to be happy staring at the screens but actually attempts to commit suicide, revealing her emptiness. She takes too many pills which actually should make her happy. As consequence of her watching TV in such an excessive way she has lost her sense of reality: She is convinced that in case of an imminent war every man will return back home in a few days. Moreover she's unable to make complete and logical sentences.

Related Topics:
Societal norms - Suicide

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Another event that is important for Guy's development happens when he and his fire brigade are sent to a house whose owner, an old lady, is suspected of owning books. However, as the house is burnt down, she chooses to remain with her books rather than carry on living without them. This causes Guy to contemplate the meaning of books, and the woman found them important enough to die for.

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After this cruel event, unnoticed by the other firemen, Guy takes a Bible with him, reading it in secret. He stays away from work and pretends that he is ill. He wonders if he could ever do his job again, both because of the old woman's death, and because of his new interest in books. In preceding actions of the fire brigade, he has already stolen books without knowing why, but unlike now, he had never read them.

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With him staying away from work, Beatty, the Captain of his fire station, visits Guy. He tells him about the history of the fire brigade, and the senselessness of books. In this speech, the reader of the book recognizes that Beatty knows that Guy has at least one book. It is implied that he has read a lot, and "knows his enemy", but at the same time despises books and their readers.

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In his speech he mentions in passing that once in his career every fireman wants to know what books say, and if a fireman takes a book with him, he has 24 hours to bring it to the fire house and burn it there.

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Now Guy is confused. He cannot find it in his heart to burn such valuable things. On top of it all, his wife Mildred is annoyed that he is keeping some books, and is scared of what could happen if the fire brigade knew about them.

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He no longer wants to burn books ? he wants to know if they have something worth hearing. He looks up Faber, a retired English professor that he met a year ago. Although Faber knew that Guy was a fireman, and was scared, he recited poems to Guy at that time. As he left, Faber gave his address to Guy for his file in case he decided to be angry with him. Montag visits Faber and he tells him of his problems. He does not want to turn in the Bible, but he also cannot find a substitute. Furthermore, Montag does not know if Beatty knows which book he has stolen, and if he would recognize that Montag has got a whole library at home if he doesn't bring the Bible. He doesn't want Beatty to find out Guy's real attitude towards books.

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Faber gives Guy a bug with which Faber is able to listen to Beatty and Guy talk and advise Guy on what to say. They decide to copy books and plant them in other firemen's houses, to sabotage the fire brigade. When Guy arrives at the fire house, he hands Beatty the book. Then Beatty wants to test Guy. He quotes from books and asks for Guy's opinion about them. In the moment he wants to answer the station bell rings and they have to leave. They get into their vehicle, and when they arrive Guy recognizes that it is his house.

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Mildred has denounced him. When the firemen arrive she is leaving the house for good. Beatty forces Guy to burn the books he has. But he does not only burn the books but also the entire house. He wants to destroy all that reminds him of his previous life. When he comes out of the house Beatty antagonizes Montag, and threatens to find Faber, Montag points the flame thrower at him and burns him alive. As Montag escapes, he knocks out his fellow firemen, but he then flees for his life, pursued by a relentless Mechanical Hound.

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After warning Faber to escape as well, he embarks on a harrowing journey from the city, to go to a camp in the countryside where some outcast intellectuals hide. Every one of them has committed entire books to memory, to share with those who would listen, until books will be allowed again. Guy arrives at the camp and warms himself over a campfire, where he realizes that fire is capable of giving warmth as well as destruction. Afterward, the city in which Guy just escaped from, and other cities as well, are soon struck with the atomic bomb, destroying them, and probably the lifestyle that they contained, so that people might once again learn from the books, and learn from the past. He has a talk with Granger, the group's leader, the fact that it is necessary for the mythical phoenix to be consumed by fire when it gets old and complacent, for it to be born again, is relayed to Montag as an allegory of society.

Related Topics:
Atomic bomb - Phoenix - Born again

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The metamorphosis of society, the Phoenix, and Montag are intertwined. Following the destruction, Guy and his newly made friends travel back to the ruins of the city to embark on the reconstruction of society.

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