In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Rad Bradbury, Montag, a firefighter who works somewhere near Chicago, opens up the book with a scene in which he burns down a home that seems to be carrying books inside. He and the other firefighters enjoy burning down homes since it makes them feel more powerful than they are and likes the idea of a strict society where books don’t exist. But one day when Montag was walking back from home, he met a 17-year-old woman Clarisse who had just moved right near him. She views the world in a very different image since she had secretly read books and seen the different components that used to happen in the world but since the government has banned books, others do not get to see what life was like before. After the introduction of Clarisse, Montag wanted to read books since he has been in instances where he thought that books might not be bad after secretly reading books in his free time and meeting Faber, a teacher who taught Montag everything that the books symbolize and what is the meaning behind the literature he is reading as Montag has had difficult times trying to process what the books are saying. At the end of the book, Montag discovers that there is already a community that exists whose job is to keep the information that they learned in the books to future generations and like his previous job rising from the ashes like the phoenix that Granger had told him about. I was curious at the beginning of the book when it first said that firefighters ’ roles were to burn houses rather than prevent them. This had me shocked and I was immediately peeled into the book wanting to know why. Starting to read more and more of it, I enjoyed the adding and disappearing of characters along the main character's journey, showing how much one character can change to do many interventions in between. After reading the end of this novel, it got me thinking that books can teach important life lessons and in the future, make the world better individually. I loved that the end showed others showing Montag’s passion and this was just the beginning of the new era where books are legal and can be read with freedom. I agree with Ray Bradbury’s choice of real-time events based on this book, making it more interesting but one thing that he could have done better was add more foreshadowing because though the book was enjoyable, having the most tiny thought in my head that something is going to happen, will increase the number of times I read this book. It adds so many small details which I enjoy giving the readers smaller details about Montag’s past that we did not know. I encourage others to read this book giving them lessons along the way as well as more insight into what happened in the history of the country and learn about new things that they had not known. This book also gave me confidence that I can become a different person if I don’t enjoy things that I might not like about myself right now and the idea that change can be a good thing, leading me to help others realize this for themselves thus recommending this book to them.
Vratesh P.
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