Bilgin Demir

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is an excellent dystopian novel. The story rolls around Guy Montag, who evolves into an avid book reader from a book-burning fireman. His transformation starts with his encounter with his neighbor Clarisse, a young girl with high spirits. Upon her question, ” Are you happy?” at first, he claims to be happy; however, when alone, he realizes he is not.

The story goes on about how he realizes his wife disconnects from reality and lives a forced, oppressive life, his search for Clarisse’s whereabouts, and people’s struggle when firemen burn their books. His transformation is an excellent example of how oppression cannot hinder freedom of thought and speech.

When I read the book, I felt like reading an Orwellian story. The book’s storyline resembles Orwell’s 1984 and how oppressive governance tries to mold people into one form and disallow them from being creative, thinking freely, and expressing themselves without fear.

Ray Bradbury was influenced by real-life events and personal experiences writing the book; therefore, the book helps us understand the political environment of the time that was written and the similarities in today’s society.