The topic most discussed with this book is that of book burning. There is so much more to this work by Ray Bradbury. For me, this book raises one question...What would you be willing to give up for knowledge?
The main character of Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag, works as a fireman in a world with fireproof buildings. His job consists of burning the belongings of people who are found to have books that are on the restricted list, which are most. The people with books are arrested. Guy starts to show a change of heart when he meets a neighbor girl who appears very peculiar in the way she acts. He also witnesses a woman who will not leave her house as it is burning, because she does not want to leave her books. This all comes to a climax as we find out Guy's true heart and what he is willing to give for knowledge.
This seems to be a great fear among literary types as there are many different works that address similar themes. I can think of the book 1984 by George Orwell and the movie Equilibrium for a couple of examples from my lists. What would we be willing to give or do if the simple freedoms that we enjoy as human beings were threatened or taken away? Would we be willing to fight against the powers that be for the right to own a Bible, Koran or other religious book? Would we be willing to die for the right to feel emotion and passion?
Please let me know if you can think of other examples of this theme that I can add to my list.
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