FREE ESSAY ON FAHRENHEIT 451

FAHRENHEIT 451

John F. Kennedy once said,  Conformity is jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. This
quote relates directly to the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. According to this
statement, when a person is told how to live their own lives they often forget to make
their own decisions, and they are no longer their own person. Conformity is following all
commands and laws regardless of one's own beliefs. In the story, Guy Montag followed the
rules set forth by the government, never second-guessing them. He never once thought of
what these regulations really meant, or what the effects of his actions were. He never
really experienced freedom. This quote expresses the changes that he made in his life.
The book Fahrenheit 451, set in the future, shows rules that the world today would think
of as outrageous laws. The most apparent law shown in the novel is that citizens of the
country are unauthorized to own any type of book, or medium that expresses knowledge or
the opinions of people. Although that this law is very well known in the land, it is
often broken by those who refuse to give up reading books for entertainment or religious
purposes. What the modern world's definition of a Fireman is today does not match the
definition of a Fireman in this novel. Firemen in Fahrenheit 451 are employed with the
sole purpose of starting fires as opposed to putting them out and saving lives. The fires
started by these Firemen are provoked by reports that the owners of the building that is
to be destroyed are hiding illegal books in the establishment. Guy Montag is a Fireman in
this novel. He lives his whole life never thinking about what a book is or why it was so
important for people to risk their lives to have them. His whole mindset on life changes
when he meets an amazing girl named Clarisse McClellan. She begins to have Montag
question his lifestyle and other aspects of life in general. This girl fully believes
that she is has the right to live her own life, no matter what the rules of the
government may be. McClellan begins to serve as an inspiration to Guy Montag. By the end
of the story Montag has totally gone against the regulations of the government and his
employers, and he begins a new, free life.
Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, uses many literary techniques to express the
importance of freedom in a man's life. In the story Firemen, along with the government,
are used as the antagonists of all problems that take place. The protagonist is at first
Clarisse, and finally Montag, at the end. This shows that the character of Montag did
change in the story after he no longer subsided to any rules. Irony was also used in this
novel. This technique took place when Guy Montag, a Fireman, began to collect books and
defy his country's laws. This was a very unpredictable and surprising situation for the
reader. This irony pertains to the quote by explaining that once a man truly believes
that he is free he no longer abides by ridiculous laws or regulations. The author of this
story also compared the wife of Montag to her friends. Because the three women abided by
the same laws, they each acted the same, and seemed to have identical personalities. The
quote explains this by saying that conformity is the enemy of growth. Therefore, Ray
Bradbury wrote this novel exceptionally, and he used many different ways of writing to
get his point across. 
In Conclusion, when one does not choose to live their own life, and they follow the rules
set forth by others, neither change nor growth will occur in a person's life. Guy Montag,
of the novel Fahrenheit 451, chose to live by this quote toward the end of the story. He
learned that by following his own guidelines he would be the controller of the outcome of
his life. Once he began to demonstrate actions that he felt were acceptable his
personality changed enormously. The author of this novel, Ray Bradbury, did an admirable
job expressing the changes that Montag experienced. He used many different literary
techniques to show the growth that Mr. Guy Montag went through in the novel. This story
was a perfect example of what may happen when a human is told what to do, instead of
having the option of doing what they truly believe they should. According to John F.
Kennedy,  Conformity is jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.