The Importance of Curiosity in Fahrenheit 451 Essay Example

How many questions have burned in your mind and still haven’t been answered? The thirst of interest is never quenched without knowledge. Most times, people don’t notice when their knowledge is being taken away. But, once you get a taste of intelligence, you can never get enough. This hunger for curiosity is shown throughout many films and literary works. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury shows how curiosity encourages discovery by sparking questions about what is believed to be true so that facts are revealed.

All trees have a root, just as internal thoughts come from external influences. Guy Montag, the protagonist, first meets his external influence on his way home. Clarisse McClellan just so happens to be Montag’s neighbor and she is like no one Guy has ever met before. She gets his brain working. She was the match that started the fire. She asks him, “‘Are you happy?’”(7). Their meeting was so strange that it never leaves Montag’s mind. The next day he thinks, “‘Happy! Of all the nonsense.’ He stopped laughing….Of course I'm happy. What does she think? I'm not? ” (8). Clarisse and Montag walk together almost everyday and every time, she leaves him with a new unanswered question. Clarisse says things like, “‘Do you notice how people hurt each other nowadays?’”(27), or, “‘How did you pick your work and how did you happen to think to take the job you have?’”(21). Although Clarisse does not live long after, her impact on Montag is everlasting. 

If you were told that right was wrong, you would question everything you know. This was the case for Montag as he began to take Clarisse’s questions and turn them into his own. He steals a book, claiming, “His hand had done it all ...curiosity in each trembling finger...”(35). His inquisitiveness leads him to think that “‘There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine.’”(48). After becoming immersed in literature, he starts to question, not only himself, but his wife, too. Everyone in this society is addicted to these programs on the parlor walls and citizens are convinced that the characters are their family, symbolizing how dependent they are on technology. He asks, “‘"Does your ‘family’ love you, love you very much, love you with all their heart and soul, Millie?’”(73). Millie thinks her television is capable of affection, proving just how meaningless the government has made books seem.

Nevertheless, the books were vital for a happy life because they held information that the government wanted to hide. Montag knows this and tries to persuade Millie that books are more than objects. When she remains unconvinced, Montag tells her, “I saw the damnedest snake in the world the other night. It was dead but it was alive….It's at Emergency Hospital where they filed a report on all the junk the snake got out of you!”(69).  In this context, the snake would symbolize censorship and control and Guy tries to explain that the censorship is what caused Mildred’s unhappiness, causing an “accidental” overdose. After asking Professor Faber if there are any copies left of certain books, he holds his Bible and tells his wife, “It might be the last copy in this part of the world”(72). Despite Millie’s warnings, Montag goes to see Faber who teaches him about the quality of books. “So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life.”(79), Faber says. By pores, he could mean the insecurities or issues in a society where satisfaction can only come from perfection. According to the government, books have authenticity which causes casualties.

But without knowledge or truth, we have no access to freedom and happiness. Montag has come to find that the world is corrupt and full of injustice. Although Montag had recently started reading, he tells Mildred, “... the world is starving but we’re all well fed. …Do you know why? I don’t, that’s sure! Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave”(70). Montag now sees that there is a reason why the government kept books from the people. There is valuable information in them that can bring people together against the government. Guy Montag learned that, “somewhere behind the seven veils of unreality … cows chewed grass and pigs sat in warm ponds at noon and dogs barked after white sheep on a hill” (135). The veils are a Biblical reference to Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils, where veils symbolize how, if lifted,  humanity will re-educate itself and become connected with each other and nature. These “veils' ' could be symbolizing how facts are revealed to Montag and he comes to the conclusion that there is a better way to live, that he isn’t the only one that is not satisfied. Mildred had no access to knowledg or truth and she faced what may have been a suicide attempt (although she denies it). He discovers that people were as curious as he was but were too afraid to uncover the truth.

Given these points, it is evident that curiosity is necessary for a breakthrough. Fear and censorship are immense obstacles but no risk is too great when you are fighting for your own rights. Bradbury warns that we cannot let knowledge be taken away by our growing dependence on technology. He teaches that we can’t let overpowered people take over our lives. Such an oppressive society is bound for self-destruction, but it only takes one person to prevent injustice. It takes one person to rebuild a home fit for generations to come.