Fahrenheit 451: Question 6

            Why do we still read Fahrenheit 451? We still read this novel because it tells us why we should read books. It shows us what life would be like if we didn’t have books, and we didn’t have access to so much knowledge and stories. Books tell and bring us so much. It teaches us so much and we can learn from the experiences the authors of many books went through and talked about. We need books because they can create escapes for us and make us feel so many emotions just from reading these stories. Bradbury was trying to get the readers to realize that without books we would have conversations like they did in the novel. We would make our decisions based on looks, and our conversations would be shallow and conceded (Bradbury 94).  We learn that we don’t judge a book by its cover, and to have respect and care for others in the books that we read.  The timelessness of the book is due to its futuristic setting and bold characters. The futuristic setting makes it so timeless because to teens and young adults reading the book, it does not feel like a classic book that is going to be long and boring. It feels like a book that they chose to read and not like something they have read before. The characters being so bold also makes it timeless. They are memorable. Guy is memorable because he changes to drastically during the book that he seems cool. Beatty is also memorable because he is like the villain, which gives the book a hero and villain feel (Bradbury). All of those things make the book great, but the readers really can learn from it also. They can learn that we cannot get so advanced with technology and new inventions that we forget the basics that got us there. We should always keep our roots so we do not end up like the people of Fahrenheit 451.

 Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.