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Fahrenheit 451 Theme Ignorance

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Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451 deals with conflict in his society. In the book, the theme is ignorance against knowledge. Guy’s society gains ignorance through the media and his society’s way of controlling its people. Since Guy and the rest of the people in his society are exposed only to what is “normal”, they don’t get the chance to gain knowledge. Guy gains knowledge through Clarisse and Faber because they open up Guy’s viewpoints. However, when Guy tries to educate others it doesn’t always go smooth because of the society’s insistence that their society shouldn’t be changed. In the story, Guy himself shows his ignorance in the book by showing his possessed joy of burning books. Guy Montag tells about his joy for his job, “ It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.’’(pg.1)(paragraph 1) Guy himself shows ignorance by doing his job, which is burning …show more content…
The type of information that the media releases may not always be accurate, therefore, creating ignorance in the society. Guy feels like no one listens to each other because they are too busy paying attention to what the media has to offer. Since the media has a big impact on the society, not even Guy’s wife Mildred interacts with him, leaving Guy to feel in a state of loneliness, “ Nobody listens any more. I can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife, she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say.”(pg.78)(paragraph 2). This conflicts with Guy because he feels as if he has no one to fully hear him or his ideas out.
Overall, Guy Montag is conflicted by his society because of the ignorance against knowledge factor. He feels as if it isn’t the right thing towards the end of the story creating trouble, but also knowledge. The society is falling apart, but that would only mean that it can be rebuilt for the

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