Fahrenheit 451 - review.

considered an outcast and looked down upon.  When talking was brought up to women, they “jerked and stared” (p. 96).        Everyone is also isolated from the outside world and what’s going on in it. They are detached from the decisions that their leaders make. They have all become remote people who are unaware of the “ignorant armies that clash by night” (p. 100) in the wars that are being fought. Everyone is certain that “nothing will happen to [them]” (p. 115). They feel like they are in their own little world, separate from the disaster that surrounds them. These people have become remote and are separated from the people and events that envelop them because these events are being bowdlerized.       The people in this future world are given a sense of movement so that they feel purposeful, though in reality their censurers have given that movement no meaning and purpose. “We keep them moving. We give them fun.” (p. 59). That’s all the world wants -- fun. They have lost all reason, and they are left with gloom so they look to be entertained. But because there is so much movement, it is impossible to concentrate. They feel they are moving but they are actually going nowhere. They are moving to fill the empty space they are left with and to attempt to leave their troubles behind. The government chooses movement because no one is given the “time to protest” (p. 84). Movement is a key way in which the government is censoring the world.       Movement blocks nature out, as well. Everyone is moving too fast to see nature. The natural speed minimum in this future world is our maximum speed today. “Drivers don’t know what grass is, or flowers, because they never see them slowly” (p. 9). It is said in the novel that a man was arrested for being a pedestrian and walking. It is as if these people are being forced to move.      “Conflicting theory and thought” makes people unhappy (p. 62): this is what the government thinks, but they are wrong. The people of Fahrenheit 451 are unhappy because they were without these things. People are having fun so it seems like they are happy even though they’re not. In this respect, these people are censoring themselves from their unhappiness. “Darkness. [They were] not happy.” (p.12). They “wore [their] happiness like a mask” (p. 12). As they wear this mask, they not fool each other but also themselves. Even though they only see the lying masks, unconsciously they know the truth. This is evident in the countless suicides. They “drown in [their] bright happiness” (p. 153). Everyone “wanted to die” (p. 122).  But what they do not realize was that since they were all empty, they are already dead.       In Fahrenheit 451, people are “now empty of dreams” (p. 95). They have become too indolent and dependent to seek knowledge and have ambitions and goals for themselves. They are without feelings as well. When something sad happens, there are “no tears, nothing like that” (p. 95) Because the people of Fahrenheit 451 are being censored, they have lost their ideas, thoughts, feelings, and their interest in seeking knowledge; all that is left is “a numbness in a numbness hollowed into a numbness” (p. 120).       Even though Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is set in the future, this novel could just as easily been set in the present. Even today, the government is censoring us from the truth and many are censoring themselves from their true feelings. America was completely carefree until September 11th. We had an attitude that nothing would ever happen to us. And now there is a possible war against Iraq, though the real reason behind our president’s decision is not necessarily being revealed to us. People all over the world are censoring themselves from their feelings. If they were truthful to themselves, there might not be about 86 suicides in America per day. We need to be aware of where our mistakes might take us, because eventually we might become the kind of world in Fahrenheit 451.