Why is fahrenheit 451 significant

Classics cut to fit fifteen-minute radio shows, then cut again to fill a two-minute book column, winding up at last as a ten- or twelve-line dictionary resume. I exaggerate, of course. The dictionaries were for reference. In the world of Fahrenheit , intellectualism and independent thinking had become abhorrent, making anti-intellectualism another theme of the book.

Fahrenheit posited a culture so diverse that every group — defined by colour, race, profession, hobbies — was a minority. And a time came when nothing could be written without offending someone or the other; without some group or the other outraging.

So where did it start? And where does the government fit in? It started with people, the chief culprits — not the government, which is at best a very willing ally to the whims of the populace to serve its own ends. Fahrenheit posited a population so big, a culture so diverse, that every group — defined by colour, race, profession, hobbies and what not — was a minority.

The people in this book, this play, this TV serial are not meant to represent any actual painters, cartographers, mechanics anywhere. The bigger your market… the less you handle controversy, remember that! He also spoke of the extent to which technology can be used for social control and the dumbing down of a willing population. And the firemen? Well, they had to do something after technological advancements had made all homes fire-proof, thus rendering them redundant.

Once things got going with condensing books, removing all and any offensive bits, and taking out anything that could cause outrage to any group, all that was left were the harmless please-all footnotes — there was nothing much left to read anyway.

One of them is not reading them. And before we blame the government — of Fahrenheit — it would serve us well to remember that only after people had voluntarily and happily given up reading, seduced by the comforts of technology, inoffensive television and mass media, did the government step in to help of course.

Watch television if you will, but let it not turn you away from reading good books also, books are almost always better than their TV or movie adaptations. Perhaps even follow in the footsteps of Marx Groucho, not Karl who found television very educational, because when someone turned on the set, he would go to the other room and read.

Although he has yet to master the information he receives from books, his thinking undergoes enough of a change to enable him to reject his society and embrace the possibility of a new one. Whereas the previous society collapsed due to its refusal of knowledge, knowledge will serve as the foundation for the new society. Ace your assignments with our guide to Fahrenheit ! SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Why did the government ban books? Why does Mildred overdose on sleeping pills?

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