Free Essays,College Free Essays,Free College Essays at Anti Essays

Since nothing can be created without first destroying what was previously there, the very ironic statement "Every act of creation, is first an act of destruction," makes more sense that would be expected of a quote by Pablo Picasso. So although the deaths and destruction of people and objects throughout Fahrenheit 451 can be seen very pessimistically, if we apply this idea, they can also be seen in quite a positive light; every act of destruction should be replaced by an act of creation.

The whole act of the firemen burning books relates perfectly to the quote; the firemen believe that in order to create a perfect society in which everyone is happy, it is their job to destroy the books. Books make people think, and when people think they start to realize that their lives are not as perfect as they wish they were. So to prevent this feeling from reaching people they have to stop them from thinking. Therefore they feel that the burning of books is vital to the creation of this new society. Although what is created from the destruction of books is not really positive, this is still an excellent example of how something new can be created through the destruction of something else.

Clarisse is a very important character in Fahrenheit 451; she is the person who really gets Montag thinking about his life and his feelings. He starts taking his surroundings into consideration, and realizes that maybe he isn't completely happy with his life. After his encounter with Clarisse, Montag's fake smile starts to diminish which really proves that Montag has realized that things could be better is he did something about them. This is really what makes him start to question the society he is living in and challenge the status quo. Clarisse dies because she is so different from society, she refuses to be dragged into a society where everyone is more or less indifferent, and where the only emotion that really exists is superficial happiness. So in the end...