Why Is Fahrenheit 451 Important To Society

The novel, Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, conveys how significant books are to society. The novel portrays a society that has clueless citizens because they lack literature. The government is able to control and manipulate their population because they do not have any access to books. The citizens believe the information the government has gave them without questioning it. Some societies today still cannot have access to books because of their gender, do not have proper education, or other situations. Bradbury reveals how essential books are to developing individual’s mindset and how books can help enlighten society. Montag questions Beatty about why firemen do not extinguish fires but start them. Beatty replied, “’We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy… A book is a loaded gun in the house next door… You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can’t have our minorities upset and stirred’” (55-57).
Montag claims, “’ I've heard rumors; the world is starving, but we're well-fed. Is it true, the world works hard and we play? Is that why we're hated so much? I've heard the rumors about hate, too, once in a long while, over the years. Do you know why? I don't, that's sure! Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave’” (70). His society has become ignorant and unaware about their surrounding because they lack books. They are uneducated on what is occurring around the world and are too focused on their television to care. Montag’s society is not informed about the situations taking place because they only rely on the television for entertainment. Their ignorance allows them to live a blissed life. His population has become illiterate and unknowledgeable without books, they only trust what the government claims to be