Review: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Title: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Series: Stand-alone
Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction
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Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television “family,” imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbor Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube.

When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.

This is my second time reading Fahrenheit 451, and my opinion of the book has changed. When I first read this book, I read it as an assignment for my Science Fiction class during my Senior year in high school. Back then, I didn’t enjoy reading at all, and I especially didn’t like being forced to read by my teachers. Consequently, I hated the book. In fact, out of a five-star rating, I would’ve given the book one star.

Based on my strong opinion of the book, you’re probably wondering what possessed me to read it again. My book club decided they wanted to read it as July’s book. I was hesitant at first, but I decided to give the book a second chance since I’ve done a 180 in regards to reading since the first time I read it.

I’m glad I gave Fahrenheit 451 a second chance because as I said, my opinion has changed. I still didn’t enjoy the story very much so the star rating didn’t change much. But, the overall themes in the book are extremely important, in my opinion, which make the book worth reading. Even if you’ve never read the book, you may be aware that it deals with book banning and burning. Basically, firemen no longer exist to put out fires, but to burn books.

In the book, Captain Beatty, the chief of the fire department in which the protagonist (Guy Montag) works, says:

You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can’t have our minorities upset and stirred. Ask yourself, What do we want in this country, above all? People want to be happy, isn’t that right? … Well, aren’t they? Don’t we keep them moving, don’t we give them fun? That’s all we live for, isn’t it?

… Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it.

As you can see, the “state” didn’t want to upset the people. And, because each book ended up offending someone, they decided just to burn them.

In my opinion, censorship is wrong! I agree that there’s a lot of filth out there that I don’t want to be exposed to, but not at the expense of banning books because I don’t agree with something in the book. You’ve already read some of my opinions about this when I reviewed The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, but if you don’t agree with some part of a book, movie, TV show, religion, lifestyle, etc., as long as “it” doesn’t infringe on the rights of another individual, then don’t have anything to do with “it.” Instead, let others choose for themselves if they want “it” in their lives, again, as long as “it” doesn’t infringe on the rights of another individual.

You may be interested to know that Fahrenheit 451 is on the list of “Top 100 Banned Books” in America. In the words of Alanis Morissette, “Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?”