Wednesday, January 16, 2013

What are some open-ended questions prompted by the novel, Fahrenheit 451?

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel that describes a future American society in which books are banned, and "firemen" are dispatched to burn any books that are discovered so that they can't be read. (The title of the novel names the temperature at which books burn.) In Ray Bradbury's world, books present a danger, because they make people independent thinkers through education, which could pose a challenge to social stability and to the control of people in power. 


Fahrenheit 451 presents the reader with many questions related to power, knowledge, and education. These include: 


  • Why is knowledge a threat to power? 

  • What are the roles of knowledge and education in society? 

  • What effects does censorship cause? Why is censorship implemented? 

  • Should knowledge ever be controlled?

  • What are the characteristics of a society that result from censorship? 

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