Fahrenheit 451 Essay

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The Perfect Temperature Many people believe that Fahrenheit 451 was written to warn future generations of what our society and government could become. The society in Fahrenheit 451 has many similarities along with many differences to our modern society. Fahrenheit 451 begins with a fireman named Guy Montag who burns books in a futuristic American city. In this futuristic society, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in Fahrenheit's society do not spend time by themselves, think on their own, or, by any means, read books. He lives in a society where books are illegal. All firemen wear the number “451” on their uniforms because 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper burns. Montag is married to Linda, a women who sits around watching television all day. He then meets Clarisse, and begins falls in love with her after she asks him if he has ever read a book. Montag's curiosity gets the best of him, and he decides to steal and read a book, actions that begin a twisting of how he views his overall life and decisions. As with the society in Fahrenheit 451, the United States government has been turning the table in its direction by trying to make us conform to its ideology, through mandating and censoring certain things out of our lives. As a result of controlling aspects of our lives, such as books and education, our society can end up in Fahrenheit 451 in that the government can make certain agencies, to stop us from sharing other people’s ideas, just as the 451 fire departments were organized to prevent citizens from reading books, and getting ideas. It is obvious that the lives of citizens in Fahrenheit 451 were often times refrained from there free speech and first amendment rights especially when Guy says, "There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there

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