Review Detail

Reader reviewed by April Kung

Freedom is participation in power," said the Roman orator Cicero. Through his words, he declares that people should not yield to majority if their rights and moral principles must be compromised to do so. This idea of freedom and power is discussed in Ray Bradburys futuristic book Fahrenheit 451, as he anticipates a corrupt society without literary wisdom.
Freedom becomes twisted when people deny their rights while the others use their power to manipulate the society. The people in the Fahrenheit 451 fear the thought of knowing, which leads them to depend of others to decide for them. One of the storys influential characters, Beatty, the captain of the firemen, is a man that uses his knowledge to control the lives of other people. He believes that books are meaningless and harmful to people, therefore, he becomes a fireman that burn books. Although in a biased way, he carries out what he believes by the act of participating in his society. His words Forget them&burn all&Fire is bright and fire is clean, shows his philosophy of resolving his problems by destroying them.
People should participate in power, instead of lowering their expectations and wait for the government to fix their problems. When the society is unhealthy and has various problems, people should not ignore them and seek for a resolution. Bradbury explains this idea in his book through the two main characters Beatty and Montag. Beatty is the earliest character to realize the problems in the story, however, instead of fighting against them, he chooses to be one of them. He defines freedom as holding the strongest power, overlooking his inner desire for books. On the other hand, unlike Beatty, Montag handles the crisis by actually finding the reason. Somethings missing shows Montags awareness of the society he is in. By direct participation in helping the people, Montag eventually gain their long lost freedom.
Freedom can only be fully obtained if people involve in the affairs of the society. Instead of merely depending on the government, people should always work together to prevent troubles from occuring. By doing so, people can secure their unalienable rights and avoid the society described by Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451.