Farenheit 451

            Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451, a science fiction novel, in 1953. The title F451 refers to the temperature at which books will begin to burn. This is a book that takes place in futuristic America during the 21st century. No particular year is given, however, 2 atomic wars have already been fought. .
             Minorities objecting to books that offended them caused the beginning of the book banning. Soon, all books began to look the same, to avoid offending anyone. This did not help, and society as a whole, decided to simply burn books rather than permit a conflicting opinion. This represents ignorance and censorship, the two major themes. The fireman's duty is to destroy knowledge and promote ignorance in order to equalize the population and promote sameness. Captain Beatty is quoted as saying "We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal a book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man's mind". Montag's eventual search for knowledge destroys the unquestioning ignorance he used to share with nearly everyone else, and he battles the basic beliefs of his society.