Forum Book-Discussion Fahrenheit 451

What makes the great books great? This forum is meant to explore that question. So what is it that makes this book great?

Fahrenheit 451

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Product Description
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

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.

Bradbury--the author of more than 500 short stories, novels, plays, and poems, including The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man--is the winner of many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Readers ages 13 to 93 will be swept up in the harrowing suspense of Fahrenheit 451, and no doubt will join the hordes of Bradbury fans worldwide. --Neil Roseman


Next Week's Book- Catch 22

Oh I LOVE this book! It is by far one of my favorites. I love the characters, and their dedication to keeping the written word alive by memorizing it. It is just such a great book when you take into consideration how far censorship goes sometimes. I fear that we may someday be a society akin to that of Farenheit 451, burning books simply because we do not understand them.

Why is no one talking about one of the greatest books of the last half of the century, if not one of the greatest ever? ::biggrin::

There have been two books (authors) that have affected me more as a person and author than any other. One of those is Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" and the other is Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451".

Every turn Bradbury takes in his masterpiece is honest and riveting. Montag's awakening is done gradually, effortlessly almost... there is just something to Bradbury's words that stick to me like glue. Deep, but simple. Playful, full of life yet dead. He is a master word smith.

The fact is this... yes, it is a fantasy, yes there are of plenty aspects in the book that feel a bit dated now, stuck in their time (the 50's) and that era's ideas of the future. But- like we all know- Bradbury has some prophetic things to say... The obessions of TV and other media, the people's willingness and choice to stop reading, the televised chase (Cops?), takeing drug supplements etc. These all hit very close to home in present day.

Oh, I could talk about this for days... Come on people! Does no one enjoy this book enough to talk about it?

I appreciate this book more than many others, since we live in an era of "copy-cat-to-instant-fame". A good book is very popular, sells well, etc., and then others try to piggy-back by creating similar works (sometimes in a flash, translation: shoddy writing). And then we have something great that is no longer unique. Makes for very difficult book-buying, I'll say. I love to buy "firsts": great books that offer new ideas or insight, whether they be fiction or non, poetry or history...

This book will forever be one of those "firsts". It gives me goosebumps to read some of the parts, since they have so "come true" ... or are "coming true" presently. I hate to say it, but the US is on its way to book-burning, and that is very sad. We have stopped just short of that, with political agendas that are less than ideal for a supposedly "free country". Let's hide those books! And let's be thankful we can still hide them in plain sight (for now), protecting their existence by shelving them in our homes. Or sharing them, better yet, with another who cares as much, so they are enjoyed by as many as possible, before they disintegrate someday...

A book is a marvel, if you really look at it, but like so many other common things we take the little paper jewels for granted. Love your books, well, give them warm thoughts anyways...

I like this book but I don't feel it is Bradbury's best work. He's one of my favorite writers, but I tend to gravitate toward his darker works, such as Illustrated man and October Country.

i remember reading this in school the same year that i read the 'lord of the flies' and while i saw some similarities in theme or use of religious imagery, i liked this one much, much more (but then again, i wasn't too crazy about 'lord of the flies'). it felt realistic and plausible and as a writer i was horrified to read about books being destroyed. and then the end, with the people of memorized books, i felt like cheering. it's a great story and it's one that can make people think with some fear about the future, like the way 'brave new world' can (which is a scary book).

I read this in school in 8th grade, and at that point in time, I hated it. But looking back on the essay I had to write for it, I realized that it was actually a really good book and raised an interesting issue, which I think is knowledge is dangerous. This isn't my opinion, but it's what I got from the book. In that society, all books were contraband and the citizens were supposed to go on about their lives blissfully ignorant of what was between the two covers of such dangerous material. But can't we apply that to life today, that anyone who knows too much is deemed dangerous and must therefore be disposed of?

[u]Fahrenheit 451 [/u]is a wonderful book, and Bradbury is a terrific writer. I higly encourage everyone to read his other work as well if you have not. Awesome stuff.

It's interesting how writers like Bradbury are still relevant based on what they predicted today's society would be like 50 years ago. Read 'The Pedestrian' if you don't think so.

I've always loved Ray Bradbury. It's funny, alot in this book has started to come true. I can't help but connect the "Ear-Sea-Shell" thingys with iPods now. Always in people's ears...

i loved this book. I read it this past summer in about a week and a half

what i found myself getting into was dystopia fiction which this is one of the greats in that genre.

what i like is that it shows us the danger that censorship can eventually lead too if not properly handled and limited.

a great novel hands down

I read this book with my class our junior year, while most hated it, I loved the idea of a world that doesn't want to offend anybody. But the burning of books was tragic. So many decades of knowledge, poetry, and expression burned at "451 degrees". Although I don't much remember the end of the book I still have a couple of questions. At the end, were the cities destroyed by nuclear bombs? And why?

One thing that I thought was interesting when it came to 451 was the fellow firefighter friend of Montang, and how he reacted to it, and the reason why the book-burning began...it wasn't the work of some evil Big Brother-type. It was people. People didn't like what the books said, so they decided to burn them all. I think that's much more frightening then an evil dictator, that the democracy will decide to remain ignorant and blissfull, espicially since that's pretty much exactly where society is going.

[quote=Jared Kardos]One thing that I thought was interesting when it came to 451 was the fellow firefighter friend of Montang, and how he reacted to it, and the reason why the book-burning began...it wasn't the work of some evil Big Brother-type. It was people. People didn't like what the books said, so they decided to burn them all. I think that's much more frightening then an evil dictator, that the democracy will decide to remain ignorant and blissfull, espicially since that's pretty much exactly where society is going.[/quote]
I think the point you touched upon in your post is one of the primary points Bradbury was making in the book. Like the famous quotation, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke).

Being constantly "entertained" (by the video walls, the seashells in the ears, and the television shows that appeal to the lowest common denominator), and taking drugs to "fix" our feelings (Sound familiar? It used to just be Valium, now we have dozens of commercialized and government approved mood-altering drugs to tailor our blood chemistry any way we want.) lead to a society crippled by its own comfort. If you make people soft enough that going against the grain means doing without every comfort they've become addicted to since they were born, you make the "cost of entry" for being different and challenging the system very high indeed.

Bradbury's message (in my opinion, of course) is no matter who you are or what you do, it's never too late to wake up and smell the burning books, even if you set the fire. Stand up, step away from the rest of the sheep. Stop taking the drugs, stop pummeling your brain with garbage entertainment, and finally discover what you really think and feel without being told.

Amazing book. It's written like no other! The storyline of compelling!