“Although Ray Bradbury’s work is often referred to as science fiction, Fahrenheit has plenty to say about the world as it is, and not as it could be.”

I agree with the statement above that Ray Bradbury’s work, Fahrenheit 451 often portrays the world as it is, and not how it could potentially be. This happens in a number of ways surrounding different topics, such as: censorship, individuality, selfishness and loneliness.

In the book, we see that people are constantly censored by the government and its other branches. Now, the concept of censorship is not foreign to us since many books around the world are banned every year. Alongside, the government and other agencies censor people on other platforms as well. They say that this is done to protect harmony in the society, but it could also be because they don’t want people to be transformed and go against them.

The theme of individuality is also present in the book. However, we see that people (as evidenced by Clarisse’s character) were mistreated because of it. Clarisse was shunned by her classmates and teachers. It was also thought that she was not “normal”. This problem exists now as well, because many people are bullied because they are different.Lastly, the themes of loneliness and selfishness are well presented by the book.

In the book we see that people have become very self-centered and that they don’t care about the world. This holds true today, since most people don’t care about what happens to others, they just want to ensure happiness (and in many cases:money) for themselves. In the book we also see that people have become so occupied with technology that they don’t have a connection with anybody else. This also holds true for many people in the world.

To conclude, I would like to say that, before this dystopian world presented in the book becomes our reality, we must act and stop it in the works. This can be done by interacting with other people, protesting against the authorities if something is deemed to be unfair and lastly, accept everybody as they are.

 

Below is the interaction between my classmates and I, in response to this question.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N7WU2yYiM_iu72xTSUUMkksyDsFqp0f-/view?usp=sharing