Banned Books // Fahrenheit 451

 

 

I saw of list of banned books, and on it was Fahrenheit 451 along with a dozen others. My first thought was I wondered why this book is banned? What could possible be so horrible in it that we want to discourage people from reading it?

It takes on subjects about Censorship, technology, and knowledge

The main character is Guy Montag a fireman who burns books in a futuristic American city. In this world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in this society do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Information and knowledge have been squeezed out by excessive media and peoples need for immediate gratification. They drive very fast, watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size sets, which they refer to as “family” and listen to the radio on “Seashell Radio” sets attached to their ears.

The story gets good when Guy starts to question why books are bad. On one night while burning books at a old ladys house, Guy steals a copy of the bible and takes it home. We later find out, he has a collection he keeps in his air vents, but he’s never read them because he was to scared of what was inside.

There are some great lines in this book, I put some of them here;

*”We need to be bothered once in awhile. How long is it since you were really bothered? about something important, about something real?

*”More sports for everyone, group spirit, fun, and you don’t have to think”

“More cartoons, more pictures, the mind drinks less and less”

“A book is a loaded gun, burn it,

take away the shot from the weapon.”

“If you ask why to a lot of questions you end up very unhappy”

“Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of facts they feel stuffed, but absolutely brilliant with information. Then they’re feel they’re thinking. they’ll get a sense of motion with out moving.”

You know you have a good book when you can’t sleep after you read it.