To Read or Not to Read

To Read or Not to Read:
An Examination of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451

    Is our society becoming less intelligent? There are many things we do that might suggest this; and it starts with the latest teenage generation. This group has grown up with more technology than any generation prior. From the internet, to cell phones, game consoles, and laptops that weigh less than a feather, it’s no wonder why reading a good book is not high on a teenager’s priority list. When it comes to reading, the only time most teenagers do it is when they have to in English class. And even then some of them just look it up on SparkNotes. For the most part, this generation has shifted its priorities to social media, video games where you steal cars, and TV shows about guys with beards who call ducks. All of these are forms of entertainment that do not require a lot of thinking. However the fact is that this generation is growing up with a limited interest in what books have to say. The question remains: Is this a bad thing? Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 introduces a world in which the intellectual is seen as an outlaw. TV has replaced the family and fireman now burn books instead of put out fires. Books are considered evil because they make people question and think. The people live in a world with no reminders of history or appreciation of the past. The main character is Guy Montag, a firefighter whose sole purpose is to burn books. However Montag becomes curious about the books he is
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burning and starts to question if he is doing the right thing when he meets a young girl named Clarisse. Eventually, Montag realizes the importance of books and why society needs them. Though written in 1953, Bradbury still had the foresight to see that the age of screen (TV, video games, cell phones) could destroy reading. Bradbury depicts this dystopian world as not only possible, but something that could be gradually occurring before our eyes. Throughout the novel Bradbury uses...