“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure
to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.”
Fahrenheit 451 opens in a blissful blaze - and before long,
we learn what’s going up in flames. Ray Bradbury’s novel imagines a world
where books are banned from all areas of life - and possessing,
let along reading them, is forbidden. The protagonist, Montag, is a fireman
responsible for destroying what remains. But as his pleasure gives way to doubt,
the story raises critical questions of how to preserve one’s mind in
a society where free will, self-expression, and curiosity are under fire.
In Montag’s world, mass media has a monopoly on information,
erasing almost all ability for independent thought.
On the subway, ads blast out of the walls. At home, Montag’s wife Mildred listens to
the radio around the clock, and three of their parlor walls
are plastered with screens. At work, the smell of kerosene
hangs over Montag’s colleagues, who smoke and set their mechanical
hound after rats to pass the time. When the alarm sounds they surge
out in salamander-shaped vehicles, sometimes to burn whole
libraries to the ground. But as he sets tomes ablaze day
after day like “black butterflies.” Montag’s mind occasionally wanders
to the contraband that lies hidden in his home.
Gradually, he begins to question the basis of his work.
Montag realizes he’s always felt uneasy - but has lacked the descriptive words
to express his feelings in a society where even uttering the phrase
“once upon a time” can be fatal. Fahrenheit 451 depicts a world governed
by surveillance, robotics, and virtual reality - a vision that proved remarkably
prescient, but also spoke to the concerns of the time.
The novel was published in 1953, at the height of the Cold War.
This era kindled widespread paranoia and fear throughout Bradbury’s home country
of the United States, amplified by the suppression of information
and brutal government investigations.