Fahrenheit 451
A Novel by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451: An Overview
“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed." This is how we enter the world of Guy Montag, a fireman, but not as we see them today. Guy, also known as Montag, lives in a futuristic America where arson is not only legal, but encouraged by a government organization of book burning men who call themselves firemen, which Montag is a part of. As we progress through the story, Montag goes through a traumatic event that causes him to believe he is not right to be burning books, that there is something more to books than illicit words on a page. Will Montag choose to continue on his journey as a fireman, or will he give up the badge, and move away from society to chose his own path?
Guy Montag
Guy Montag is really just your Average Joe. He has a wife, drives a car, goes to work every day, and goes to bed, ready to work tomorrow. However, his work is not what most would classify as a day on the job, for his work was to destroy contraband. However, this illegal substance was not drugs, but books. He doesn't know why he does this, all he knows is that he loves the smell of kerosene and to watch things burn, blacken, and change.
Setting of Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a futuristic, dystopian America. In this America, extended family visits are fewer, or nonexistent due to what they call the "Parlor", though it is really a multi-wall television set that is able to generate a false family to converse with. The entire countries appears to be against intuition, and they spend more time with a television class. All in all, this place seems to be a dark place in which everyone is the same, and nobody has the chance to break free of the system. Until now.
Vocabulary
Stolid
having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily aroused or excited
Mausoleum
a large burial chamber, usually above ground
Olfactory
of or relating to olfaction (smell, your nose)
Book Reveiws
Fahrenheit 451 is set in a grim alternate-future setting ruled by a tyrannical government in which firemen as we understand them no longer exist: Here, firemen don't douse fires, they ignite them. And they do this specifically in homes that house the most evil of evils: books.
~Barnes and Noble
"Brilliant . . . Startling and ingenious . . . Mr. Bradbury’s account of this insane world, which bears many alarming resemblances to our own, is fascinating."
- Orville Prescott, New York Times
"A masterpiece . . . A glorious American classic everyone should read: It’s life-changing if you read it as a teen, and still stunning when you reread it as an adult."
- Alice Hoffman, The Boston Globe
Recommendation
Overall, I think that this was a very good book. The story took some interesting twists and turns, and the premise of the book is a very interesting one. However, the vocabulary and the phrasing is a bit difficult to understand, so if you want to have a challenging novel on your hands, this is the one for you.