Fahrenheit 451 # 1

Q:What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2008?

The major theme of this novel is that absence of literature will lead to an ignorance of human’s intelligence and emotion that will eventually destroy this society with obstinacy. Without books, this world will lack with communication and people living in that world will neither be able to reveal themselves nor illustrate their opinions. Thus, people will become more introverted and less people will believe in one another. This novel is representing the importance of literature and its indirect contributions to our daily lives.

When I was reading this book, I was surprised by how literature could affect our society. The significance of books, the existence of the littlest things around us, and even our curiosity could make huge differences in our cultures and our conceptions. However, many teenagers tend to think that literature will not benefit their lives in the future or change the way they live. As a teenager, I personally have thought that there was absolutely no point in learning literature. Nonetheless, I was wrong because there were uncountable numbers of reasons why literature was significant to my life and the world that I live in. In the book, the main character, Guy Montag is the one who faces an enormous dilemma where he has to choose his side between ‘the firemen’ and ‘the book people’. He is symbolizing the teenagers living in this world today because at first, he did not even think about how books could deepen our thoughts but only believed in the conception that books only made things complicated. However, later on, he becomes curious and spends more time on his own and thinks fervently about why all the people were obsessed about reading books as he meets a seventeen-year-old girl who is odd and abstract. Just like Guy Montag, I think the teenagers should know how important literature could change the way we think and how it could broaden and deepen our experience.

In addition, the people in the ‘firemen’ society do not enjoy nature, think independently, or have meaningful conversations but watch wall-size televisions all day long and listen to the “Seashell Radio” sets. This illustrates that literature not only has effects on the way we think but also the media. Media has a massive influence on teenagers. They follow the flow and view the world the way the media views the world. This book suggests that without literature, there will be no dramas, no cartoons, no news, and no movies. This is because everything is based on the natural phenomenon and that is a part of literature. Hence, to understand this world, teenagers should learn literature and read this book—Fahrenheit 451.