The Importance of Books in Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury :: essays research papers

One of the themes which happens to be the biggest one is burning books because they conflict with each other and the ideas of society. The firemen don't fight fires, they start them when they find books. Recollections and thoughts, writings and teachings from the greatest minds in history go up in flames because the government doesn't want people to fill their heads with it and develop an individual intelligence. The government is afraid of the books because they stimulate people's minds to think for themselves and away from the main track that the general public was expected to follow. The government covered up the problems of the world that still wore on, like war, and didn't let the people see it or have it affect them. They heard about it and that was all. In general, people's lives became better, but it was of no consequence because they didn't know what it was like to have things not go well and as planned. A candy cane is much sweeter after you think about eating oil. Another reason they burn books is because they don't agree and they aren't real. The government figures that there is no use in people thinking about things that don't exist, especially when each book's ideas conflict. I think that conflicting ideas helps us think for ourselves because we are forced to make decisions. Making a decision is a lot better when you have more food for thought to work with. Also, it would be boring not to have conflicting ideas. So many things that we value and we can be proud of in terms of the accomplishments of the human race went up in flames in the book. Everything from Socrates, Newton, the Bible, Thoreau, Hans Christian Anderson and Shakespeare was wiped out because they didn't go together fluently with