Why do we read? I mean if the Authors, like all of us are creatures of their times and are bound to produce biased arguments, shouldn't we just label them as "personal opinions"? And besides, aren't all fiction books just tales about people who never existed or probably won't exist? Carry forward this line of reasoning and you get an idea of the bizarre brainwashing that plagues society in Fahrenheit 451.
Quite aptly, Fahrenheit 451, the temperature at which paper burns, houses all the elements of an "utopian" society built upon something dystopian. There is no free thought, people are constantly engaging in mindless acts of entertainment, and are bogged down with more useless information than they could possibly have something to do with. Completely oblivious of the things that really matter, most of the characters in the plot live in a trance state of bliss, the experience and the ideas of the generation that came before have been completely discarded as there are barely any books(or even people with that knowledge) left. Even quoting from them or using phrases like "Once upon a time" are considered as acts of rebellion.
While in this state of ignorance, random acts of violence are routine, and thrill seeking that often leads to death is common. In-person connections are a thing of the past while people are busy talking to far flung strangers in their screen lit "parlours", who are always happy under the light that they know too little about the suffering and the chaos that is ensuing in the poorer countries. Order is maintained by mechanical "hounds" which move as smooth as air and latch on to their target with unprecedented precision, and sometimes serve as contestants in the hunting games that the firemen organize.
Okay, so it is quite easy for someone to get carried away in Bradbury's arguments and try and denounce the modern society which has many of the elements depicted in the book. But there again, the book itself gives a way of making the right choices. You see, Bradbury wrote the book during the cold war and the portrayal of society as it has been is influenced to some extent by the way HE interpreted it to be. Later in the book, an excerpt shines light on the necessity of the reader's ability to pause and reflect on the ideas, it goes:
"You are not important ,you aren't anything, someday, the load that we are carrying with us might help someone, I mean even when you have the books and the knowledge in your hands, you are rarely ever able to bring that to use, Instead of using the knowledge that is present, we are busy criticizing the people who no longer are, people who are passing on that knowledge."
What Bradbury wishes to entail through the events, is that the things that we should really focus on are the ideas and knowledge present not just in books, but in the numerous resources that are available; as sometimes, knowledge might also be present in a form that is more "human".
Simply discussing your ideas and beliefs with a different person can bring out useful insights and flaws in them, leading to improvement. The best thinkers are born out of feedback and positive change. So while the world in Fahrenheit 451 slowly burns to ashes as a result of the unthoughtful, the protagonist and the few other refugees take the steps towards the unthinkable.
PS: The preface to the Novel says:
"If someone tells you what a story is about, they might be right, but if someone tells you that
THAT IS ALL THE STORY IS ABOUT, then they are very definitely wrong."
So in case you wish to have your own take at the Classic find it here:
https://www.pdfdrive.com/fahrenheit-451-e34576884.html
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