My Thoughts On Farenheit 451...

“There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke.”― Vincent van Gogh

Burn it. Burn it with fire. Burn all books with fire. Burn every idea that poses a risk of being different with fire. Or what’s better, burn all individuality with fire. Burn it. Burn it all.

What would it be like to live in a society where everyone is the same and being different is a crime? This is a world of fear with the neverending threat of being thrown over open flames for expressing even the slightest of different thoughts. This is the world of Fahrenheit 451. Books are burned because they “risk” expressing the writer’s individuality and unapproved thoughts. People who express those ideas are sometimes even burned as well. The overriding motif in Fahrenheit 451 is fire. There is burning, burning, and more burning. This is a society that burns its individuality like it’s nothing or, more accurately, the worst crime imaginable. The motif of fire reveals the theme of destruction as a result of the stripping, or better yet burning, of all individuality from a society.

The motif of fire represents not only the burning of books, but of individuality as a whole. In Fahrenheit 451 one is taught a highly important lesson in regards to how both literally and figuratively, burning the right to individuality could cause a society to fall as a result of the neverending fire that consumes it. Society falls into a neverending trap of judgment and ridicule towards anything it perceives as different and believes anyone who thinks any different is better off dead. “She didn’t want to know how a thing was done, but why. That can be embarrassing. You ask Why to a lot of things and you wind up very unhappy indeed, if you keep at it. The poor girl’s better off dead.” - Bradbury 26 Chaos erupts when society becomes so focused on the perfect pictures it proclaims to be the one and only way to paint. This causes society to never be able to see the true beauty lying just beneath the Picassos it labels disastrous. Nothing in a society like this is anywhere near perfect. Nothing is really as it seems. In this society, no one is really themselves. Nothing is real. “We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while…” - Bradbury 41 “How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?” - Bradbury 42 The reality has been quite seriously banned from all of society at this point. The real citizens in this society have been tossed into flames long ago. The fire never stops burning. It never stops.

When the expression of individuality is set on fire, everything and everyone is forced into a rigid mold. People think this is right because they have been brainwashed to think that way. “It was a pleasure to burn.” - Bradbury 2 Nonetheless, society and its individual members are deeply, negatively affected by this forced conformity. After all,“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn.” - Bradbury 47 When a society becomes “perfect” with the only choice of conformity, or physically being fed to a fireplace, the freedom of expression is burned. “Oh God, the terrible tyranny of the majority. We all have our harps to play. And it's up to you to know with which ear you'll listen.” - Bradbury 39 Dreams are burned before they even ever get thrown in the physical fire. Children’s creativity bursts in flames repeatedly before it ever truly catches fire. Smiles are plastered across people’s faces in order to fit the criteria of being a “perfect” role model while others actually look up to these plastic creatures as beings to emulate. They are trained to view the world this way. They are trained by fire. Lack of conformity turns them to ashes figuratively if not literally. They would be nothing in society’s eyes. Most people, even in our current society, would rather become literal ashes than live as a nobody.

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury asserts that the road to happiness is lack of choice. Overload people with lots of information that means nothing. He explains:

If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change.” - Bradbury 83

Burn the choices. Let them be consumed by fire. People will be happy with no choice, no individuality. They won’t have to think for themselves. They won’t create. They won’t truly live because life is worthless anyways. Burn it down.

The cycle never ends as individual people who once had different ideas are tied up into the same “person”, one society, unable to escape the knot. If they attempt to escape the societal knot, they risk destroying both themselves and others tied together in it. Rather than try to escape or let others escape, they would rather watch detractors thrown into a pit of fire and burned. "We must all be alike…” - Bradbury 60 “Not everyone is born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone is made equal…” Bradbury 61 “Each man is the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against.” - Bradbury 62. Everyone is equal in this society. No one is an individual, but everyone is equal. Equal is the same. Everyone must be the same. If not, let them burn.

According to this world of conformity, books are dangerous. They are full of ideas and make people think. These thoughts may be different from everyone else’s thoughts. “So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door…” - Bradbury 57 “…Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon." - Bradbury 58. Conformity must be enforced at all costs. Those who fall out of bounds and do not fit the mold are endangering this “perfect”, “equal” society. They would stand out as different. This would ruin their reputation and they must therefore be brutally punished. Let them burn in the fire. The society in Fahrenheit 451 must be perfect. This results in burning not only the individuality of all citizens but also socialization as a whole. People don’t act like themselves. Instead, they regurgitate society’s “perfect” lies. True, not forced or fake socialization, has also been thrown into the fire pit. Why? It’s been normalized. Don’t be different. Burn all individuality. Yes, as disturbing as it is, the lack of actual, real socialization as one knows it today (with the exclusion of social media and all…) has been normalized in this society, and has been construed into something believed by many to be “strange”, as the television is on, so why not just watch that? Is there really such a problem with loving a character on a screen more than one’s own husband? Family? In this society the answer to that question, whether the residents know it or not, (let alone care enough to acknowledge it) is no. Everybody else is doing it. Throw those who are different into the flames! Who cares about real socialization anyways!? There is most certainly not a problem with loving technology more than people...more than the people one should be closest to in the world (but not really according to the ideas portrayed by these dystopian people). If one thinks any differently as Montag tries to emphasize at certain points, guess what!? One is weird. Fire! One is strange. Fire! One actually has the guts to think differently. Fire! One possesses a wretched thing called individuality and is thus embarrassing me just by their presence whilst daring to share their own point of view for once in front of my individuality-lacking (...and hating…and rightfully so!) “friends”. FIRE! How dare one? How dare one be different? How dare one oppose the beauty of ignoring people and relying solely on becoming a perfectly cut mold who prioritizes technology in order to find true “happiness”? HOW DARE ONE!? Burn them. Burn them all! Burn everyone who is different! “When they give you lined paper, write the other way.”- Bradbury 102 Ha! What a joke! It sounds like instructions for writing one’s own obituary!

“How dare one wish to read books? How dare one long to know something that’s not encouraged by the people around one who already know everything there is that’s good to know like books are bad even though no one even knows what’s inside of them? How dare one be different? How dare one not be exactly like me?” screams the society at anyone who even thinks of stepping a single foot out the door of the cage they were born into. “How dare one dare to not be the same and dislike such a perfect society as I? More fire please! Burn it! Broadcast it live on TV in shining lights! Burn it all! But spare the White Clown please, would you?” At least in such a society the White Clown existed. Everyone seemed to love him. “Isn’t this show wonderful?...Millie, did you see that!” Mildred and her “friends” exclaimed excitedly in response to the White Clown - Bradbury 96. Towards her very own husband, Montag, however, Mildred wasn't nearly as excited. Montag’s obvious pain and sorrow showed as a result of his regrets in burning a woman when he confessed to her, “We burnt a thousand books. We burnt a woman.” (Bradbury, 53) however was only met with a salty “Well?” by Mildred (Bradbury, 53). Was there a problem with burning things? Was it not lovely to watch it all burst into flames!? What an ungrateful man indeed. She shouldn’t feel obligated to feel emotionally connected in any way to this tool who couldn’t even burn a human being without feeling bad about it!

Mildred felt no need to care about a useless tool for she had the White Clown. The way Montag felt reflected this idea she either consciously or unconsciously possessed greatly. “Nobody listens anymore. I can't talk to the walls because they're yelling at me, I can't talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough it'll make sense. And I want you to teach me to understand what I read.” - Bradbury 76, Montag commented but to no avail. Still Mildred continued to feel the same way. Burn Montag. Fire. Fire. Fire. I don’t care. I’ll allow it. Nothing is real anyways. But the White Clown is. Mildred seemed so emotional and ecstatic towards the White Clown in comparison to her apathy towards Montag in fact, that Montag, obviously realizing the problem put at foot, attempted to confront it by questioning Mildred “Millie? Does the White Clown love you?” - Bradbury 79 to which she answered nothing back. “Did he, or would he allow me to burn when I needed help?” She presumably cared less either way. How could she even begin to answer such a question, however? How could she even fathom such a foolish thing as love in a world where such didn’t even truly exist? How could she possibly know!? Or maybe she did know the answer, yet was too heartbroken by this notion that she could not physically respond for ignorance is bliss, right? Wrong. For this particular society the entire reason it had so many obviously depressed citizens such as Mildred -who she herself nearly died of an overdose- was because of the insanely wrong belief that burning things that could pose as problems would rid the society as a whole from all problems in existence. Did it though? No. It only caused more. One cannot fight fire with fire. Fighting fire with fire is pure ignorance, and quite frankly, stupidity. Fire. Fire. Fire. Individuality set on fire. Ignorance. Stupidity. Ignorance isn’t bliss, which Montag knowing this, refused to stop there, for he saw just how excited and attached Millie seemed to be to something he knew was not even real, as he did not know if she did. To get to the bottom of this rocky shore he followed up with the question, “Millie, does-...Does your family love you?” - Bradbury 79. But did anyone’s family love them at this point? This was normal, right? No individuality allowed. Why should my family love me if no one else’s seemed to? That would just be weird, right? Right!? What was love? Love was a problem. Set it on fire. Love is the product of individuality and thus, absolutely, positively NOT allowed. Burn it!

Mildred ultimately, and unconvincingly so, responded to Montag’s question of whether her family loved her or not with, “Why’d you ask a silly question like that?” - Bradbury, 79. However, she didn’t even bother to say whether her family did or didn’t truly love her. In a way Mildred lied by concealing the truth. She knew. She cared. She pretended not to do either, just like everyone else. This prompted Montag to nearly cry, for she had fallen into the trap of this “perfect” society and was obviously not at all happy, yet she continued to pretend just like everyone else did. She was just like everyone else in having no individuality and Montag had finally come to this realization after pretending all these years. This is why Montag cried. His hope was in flames. This is why Montag took it upon himself later on in the novel to ask similar questions and get real with this society, which of course, since he possessed different opinions than this society as a whole did, didn’t turn out too well. While they were all oohs and ahhs in response to the White Clown, when speaking of their very own families they trash talked and even objectified them. “...stuff laundry in and slam the lid.” Mrs. Bowles spoke of her own children - Bradbury 99. Burn them. They cause problems so burn them. Burn them all. Angered by the way he was hearing others speak of their very own families, Montag burst out, “...Oh God, the way they jabber about people and their own children and themselves...I stand here and I can’t believe it!” - Bradbury 100. After hearing all sorts of things Montag would rather not have heard after already being deeply depressed by the fact that no one even cared enough to love their own families in this messed up society, valuing superficial things such as television screens more, Montag had had enough.

Montag felt that the truth about life was that one must follow these rules he’d once heard from Granger: “Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.”, however no one else seemed to view it this way, frustrating him for all he’d ever wanted to do was help people see the truth to find true happiness. “He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back.” - Bradbury 89 He had had enough of hearing everyone talk all the same about their families, trash talking them simply for conversation, as that is what they had heard going on around them, so it must be right. It must be “perfect”. It must be “perfect” to hate on one’s family because others were doing it. If it was agreeable it was sensible. If it was sensible it was true. Agreed. Everything was an agreement even when not right. Everyone talked the same. Everyone acted the same. Burn all individuality. Who would fight it anyways? If he says so, she says so. If she says so, he says so. If they say so, who could say no? “If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none.” Who other than mentally insane people like Montag could see this as a problem, right? No fighting is good, yes? Fight fire with fire. Burn it. Montag didn’t see it like that, however…not in the slightest. He’d once again had enough of the individuality he could clearly see burning right in front of his eyes, as if it had not already been completely and utterly destroyed by the fire that clung to this society, allowing it no escape from the destruction that would follow until there was nothing left to destroy. Anyone in this society in their right mind (which describes nearly nobody who was anybody in this society) would have been like Montag and had enough. Everyone spoke the same...everyone did the same things...everyone thought the same thoughts, and only opinions that were not even opinions, but instead, agreements, were valid. There was fire everywhere, even where there was not. The way that the citizens of this society had no individuality whatsoever proved that there needn’t be a single spark to be seen to display the true lack of hope as a result of not even being permitted to read a single book to feed their own, possible interests which they knew nothing of, for they had to be “perfect”. Do not be perfect and there is always a pit of fire just waiting for you to be fed to it. Fahrenheit 451 is still waiting to be fed to the flames by its own, cruel world that hopefully never exists outside of one’s worst nightmares.

One is taught from a very young age that “It doesn’t matter what you do…so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away.”- Bradbury 96, however just the opposite poses to be true again and again simply because people cannot get past the simple fact that not everyone's the same. The idea that people likely will never get past the idea that no two people are exactly alike and that that’s automatically bad is absolutely horrifying. This novel is horrifying. “To everything there is a season. Yes. A time to break down, and a time to build up. Yes. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. Yes, all that.” - Bradbury 57 In this novel every second was lived in silence. Every second was lived in the silence of expression. Silence is horrifying. Silence is deadly. Silence is deadly conformity. Maybe there are no zombies or creepy little killer dolls, but in it’s own right it is horrifying and what’s even worse, not incredibly unrealistic either. Fahrenheit 451 terrorizes its readers with a dystopian society with no individuality whatsoever. The book does an excellent job at detailing what would happen if individuality were tossed into the fire. Society would, quite literally, come crashing down in flames. But hey, if society has problems, why not just burn it? In the end,“We stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought.” - Bradbury 93, right? Why not just burn it? Burn it all. That is the way to solve problems after all. Right? Think differently? Fire. Fire. Fire.