Fahrenheit 451

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Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This dystopian novel "Fahrenheit 451" was written by an American writer Ray Bradbury. This novel was written in 1953. This novel has presented a future American society where books have been outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The novel is told from the perspective of Guy Montag, the main protagonist. He is a fireman who begins to dislike his job of censoring books and destroying knowledge. Finally, he quits his job and dedicates himself to saving literary and cultural writings.

FULL BOOK SUMMARY

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Guy Montag works as a fireman in a futuristic American city, where he burns books. Unlike traditional firemen who put out fires, in Montag's world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. In this society where Montag is living, people don't read books, appreciate nature, spend time alone, think for themselves, or have deep, meaningful conversations. Instead of all these, they speed around in cars, watch a lot of TV on big screens, and listen to the radio using "Seashell Radio" sets attached to their ears.

Montag meets a kind seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse McClellan. This girl makes him realise the emptiness in his life. She makes him feel in such a way through her simple but deep questions and her love for people and nature. In the following days, Montag experiences troubling events. Initially, Mildred, his wife, tries to end her life by taking a bottle of sleeping pills.

Later, when Montag goes to a call about an old woman having hidden books, she surprises him by stating that she wants to be burned alive along with her books. A few days later, he also learns that the kind girl, Clarisse, has been killed in a car accident. Montag becomes even more unhappy with his life. He starts looking for answers in a collection of books that he has stolen from his own fires and hidden in an air-conditioning vent.

When Montag can't manage to go to work, his fire chief, Beatty, comes to his house. Beatty says it's normal for firefighters to go through a phase of wondering a question regarding the value of books. He talks a lot about why books got banned in the first place. Beatty says that certain interest groups and other "minorities" didn't like books that offended them, so they were banned.

Soon, all books started to be similar because writers tried their best not to offend anyone. But even that wasn't okay, so society as a whole planned to burn books instead of allowing different, conflicting opinions from readers. Beatty asks Montag to take 24 hours to check if the books he took have anything valuable and then give them up to be burned. Montag spends his long and busy night reading.

He feels overwhelmed by the task of reading. Montag turns to his wife for support, but she prefers watching TV to her husband’s company. She can't understand why he would take a risk by reading books. Montag recalls his meeting with a retired English professor named Faber in a park. He thinks that Faber could help him understand what he reads. When he goes and meets Professor Faber, the professor explains to him that books are very valuable because they provide a detailed understanding of life. Faber also believes that Montag needs not just books but also the time to read them and the freedom to act on the books' ideas.

Faber agrees to assist Montag with his reading. Both of them come up with a daring plan to overthrow the status quo. Faber will get in touch with a printer to make copies of the books. Montag will hide books in firemen's houses to make their job look bad and break the censorship system. Faber provides Montag with a two-way radio earpiece (the "green bullet") so they can secretly communicate.

Montag returns home, and soon two of his wife's friends come over to watch TV. The women talk about their families and the upcoming war in a very silly way. Montag gets upset by their shallowness. He takes out a book of poetry and reads "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold. Faber tells him to be quiet, and Mildred tries to say that firemen often read poetry to demonstrate that literature is useless. The women are really bothered by the poem. They leave to file a complaint against Montag.

Montag moves to the fire station. He gives one of his books to Beatty. Beatty confuses Montag by quoting contradictory things from famous books. Beatty uses all these quotes to state that literature is dark and too complicated to grasp, and that's why it should be burned. Suddenly, the alarm rings. They hurry to respond, but it turns out the alarm is at Montag's own house. Mildred leaves with her suitcase in a cab. Montag realises that his own wife has betrayed him.

Beatty makes Montag burn his own house. As Montag finishes his task, Beatty arrests him. When Beatty keeps scolding Montag, Montag turns the flamethrower on him. He burns him to ashes. Montag knocks out the other firemen and runs away from them. The Mechanical Hound, a scary machine set by Beatty, starts attacking Montag. It injects him with a lot of anaesthesia in his leg. Montag manages to destroy the hound with his flamethrower. He walks off the numbness in his leg. In this way, he escapes along with some hidden books in his backyard. He puts these books in another fireman's house. He calls in a fire alarm from a pay phone.

Montag moves to visit Faber. He finds out that a new hound, several helicopters, and a TV crew are after him. Faber decides to go to St. Louis to meet a retired printer who might help both of them. Montag provides Faber with some money and explains how to get rid of his smell at home to keep the hound away. Later, Montag takes some of Faber's old clothes and runs towards the river.

Everyone in the city watches on TV as Montag runs away. But he manages to escape into the river and changes into Faber's clothes to disguise his smell. He floats down the river into the countryside. He follows some old railroad tracks until he finds a group of renegade intellectuals (“the Book People”). The group is led by a man named Granger, who welcomes him.

These people are part of a big group of book lovers across the country. They have memorised lots of important books related to literature and philosophy. They believe that they can help mankind after the war that was just declared. Montag's job is to memorise the Book of Ecclesiastes. The jets of the enemy show up in the sky, drop bombs, and destroy the entire city. Montag and his new pals go on to look for survivors and try to build civilization again.

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Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: Summary | Novel

Fahrenheit 451

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