Book Report 4 - Fahrenheit 451

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York, NY. Simon & Schuster, Inc.

I chose this book because people recommended it to me. Many of them said, if I liked 1984, which I did, I would like this. It's another one of those bleak future books where the government has taken complete control and there are very harsh and outlandish laws that usually ban anything to do with or anything that would spark free thinking. Really interesting stuff. It takes place in an unspecified time in the future, in the United States.
The story starts out talking about how much the main character, Guy Montag, loves burning books. It is his job, because he is a fireman. In this time, firefighters don't put out fires, they light books on fire. Guy gets a new neighbor named Clarisse who is very interesting to him because she is so outspoken and she asks him personal questions like if he is happy. This is strange in the time of the story. She also asks him if firefighters used to actually put out fires. Guy thinks about it and realizes he isn't happy. He has a wife who barely talks or does anything beside watch tv and overdose on sleeping pills. The next day they talk again, and Clarisse is going to the psychiatrist. Authorities make her go because of her independent attitude and "strange" behavior. (Behavior that seems like it would be normal if it was in this day and age). On his way to the fire station Guy talks to Clarisse every day but she doesn't show up on the eighth day. Guy goes to work at the fire station and he talks to Captain Beatty about the history of the firemen. An interesting part that happens here is that when Guy asks Beatty if firemen used to actually put out fires, Beatty opens a book and shows him that in 1790 fireman were established to burn English-influenced books and Benjamin Franklin was the first fireman. Like 1984, the government is changing history. An alarm sounds and the firemen go to an old house to burn books hidden in the attic. The firemen start throwing books out of the attic and without thinking Montag takes one. An old woman is there and she refuses to leave even when the men douse everything with kerosene. She pulls out a match and the men run as it goes up in flames. Montag doesn't see Clarisse for four days and he tells his wife Mildred about it. She tells him they moved away but Clarisse was killed when she was run over by a car. The next morning Montag feels really guilty and he tries to talk to his wife about it but she doesn't understand. Beatty comes over and tells Montag to take the day off, even though he already was going to, but while he is there he talks about how books became unpopular. TV, radio, and other things like that appealed to the greatly increasing population more. People started to have more demand for uncontroversal, simple reads which started not to exist anymore, until finally houses were all fire-proofed and the firemen's jobs were to now burn books instead of extinguish fires. Books could get people smart and make others feel inferior. During the conversation Mildred comes across the book Guy took from the house and Beatty sees but pretends nt to notice. Beatty leaves and Montag tells Mildred he wants to quit the fire squad and he shows her a hidden stash of books he's had for a while. He starts reading one. Later he calls a professor named Faber that he met a year before in park where he was reading a poetry book. Guy calls him because he needs help understand exactly what h's reading. He visits him and they talk and Faber gives him a two way ear radio so they can communicate and Faber can help Guy talk to Beatty. Guy plans to give Beatty a copy of the book Mildred found in front of him so Guy can appear innocent. Faber reads to Guy through the earpiece while there are reports that the country is getting ready for war. Guy goes home and two of Mildred's friends arrive. Guy tries to have conversation with them and the women say things that make him angry an prompt him to take out a book of poetry that he starts reading to them. Afterwards Guy throws it into the incinerator when Faber tells him to and yells at them to leave and re-think their lives. Mildred goes to the bedroom and Guy finds out she has been burning his books so he hides them again, in the backyard. He goes to the fire station and he gives the copy book to Beatty who throws it away. The alarm sounds and Guy finds that the destination is his own house. Mildred leaves in a taxi and Beatty makes Guy burn down the house by himself. If he was to try to escape, the mechanical dog they have will chase him. Guy turns the flamethrower on Beatty and kills him, knocks out the other firemen, destroys the mechanical dog with his flamethrower, and escapes. He hears on a radio that war has been declared as he runs to Faber's house. There, Guy watches the news and finds out a new dog has been sent to search for him along with helicopters. He gets a suitcase full of clothes and leaves. Faber decides he will flee to St. Louis shortly after. Guy runs away and jumps in a river that takes him to the countryside. There, he follows the train tracks to a fire with five men there. One man, Granger, has a portable tv and he has been watching the news. He tells Guy that they will search in the other direction now, to kill a scapegoat so they don't have to be embarassed in front of the many watching people. They find a random man walking alone and kill him and say it's Guy. Guy meets the other people who are all retired professors and intellectuals. They are all waiting for a time for books to be useful again so they can have a purpose in society. Jets fy over the city and bomb it, and afterwards they all head towards it to help rebuild and help survivors.
Guy Montag is changed by the plot very greatly. At the beginning it's ery clear he loves his profession of burning books, but that doesn't last too long. Clarisse's odd behavior spars him to actually think about his life and realizes he truly is unhappy with what he his. He starts to think and read and become an intellectual man.
I loved this book. It was very interesting. Like 1984, this book does a great job of painting a realistic picture of a future environment. It brings up a valid point: books really are becoming more and more obsolete as time goes on, and it's sad. I would say Fahrenheit 451 is important for people to read, especially for our generation of internet kids.
I'm not sure what else Ray Bradbury has written but the sleeve on the book says he's written over 500 pieces. But yes, I would read something by him again.