Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 example essay topic

Ray Bradbury states 'I think that science-fiction and fantasy offer the liveliest, freshest approaches to many of our problems today, and I always hope to write in this vivid and vigorous form, saying what I think about philosophy and sociology in our immediate future. ' In this statement we see that Bradbury does not regard science fiction to be lightly entertaining and fun, but rather sees it as a powerful tool to state his concern for society and the path it is headed in. For Bradbury science fiction is his call to the world to recognize what our world is becoming, and his call to change. For his writing of Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury has stated a social purpose. After reading this novel it is very clear to see that Bradbury has certainly used this novel as an opportunity to make a call for social change. In this novel, he brings forth the subject of censorship, and how it is affecting our human rights and freedom.

His cause for this novel evokes the reader to sharply question where our society is headed as we take politically incorrect to an extreme. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 forces us to envision a world that is so structured and censored fireman exist not to fight fires, but instead to burn books. Fahrenheit 451 is a horrific account of what could happen in an all too close future when society carries 'political correctness' to its extreme. One of the primary characters that the reader meets in Fahrenheit 451 is a young girl named Clarrise who has been raised to live the way things once were, in a time where people had true freedom. Because of Clarrise's view of life she is branded as anti-social by her teachers and an outcast by her fellow classmates. Clarrise becomes acquainted with another main character named Guy Montag.

Montag is a fireman who deep inside does not want to live a life without having to think. Montag's inner thoughts become more and more a part of him as the book progresses and as his friendship with Clarissa deepens. Montag eventually becomes a freedom fighter of sorts when he begins to steal books and eventually joins a group of people who illegally hide and read books. Montag's wife Mildred on the other hand prefers not to have to think, but rather to allow others to think for her to simply say 'yes I agree. ' Mildred is the epitome of laziness.

One of the most complex characters in this book is the fire chief Beatty. Beatty is a man who once was educated but has now turned his back on education and works to destroy it. Beatty knows what is in books but chooses not to care, not to do anything but help the destruction of books. The loss of the characters freedom to read and to think was not an act that was forced on the people but, embraced by the people. The people loved the idea of not having to think anymore. The desire to confront issues was gradually lost by the people.

Since the desire the desire to confront issues was lost people stopped doing anything that was so called 'politically incorrect's o that nobody would be offended. After a while of being so passive to fighting for freedom this became so natural that anyone who did was considered odd and a threat. This caused laws to be made saying that no one could be different. These laws were accepted by the majority of society. An example of this passive destruction is a comment of Mildreds' that said' Oh lets not think about that it's too painful.

' The people decided that they did not want to think, so they didn't. They just accepted whatever was told to them, and they no longer had individual thoughts, but rather thought the one same thought together as a whole. Ray Bradbury intended for people to read this book, and to see how censorship can be taken to an extreme. His reason for writing was a social purpose to give society a glim spe of what our future could be as we take political correctness to an unneccesary extreme.