Fahrenheit 451: The death of the renaissance

Guy Montag is not your average dystopian hero. He's not between the ages of 12 and 25 for one thing. It seems to me that most dystopian books of the past decade like the Hunger Games series and Insurgent follow roughly the same plot where an evil government has created an unnatural system for controlling the people and the main protagonist has to overthrow the oppressor. This is not the story Ray Bradbury told when he wrote Fahrenheit 451 more than half a century ago.

Guy Montag's character didn't go through today's usual motions. He wasn't born an orphan nor was he born in poverty. He didn't grow up on the outskirts of society nor was he completely friendless in this world. There were no prophecies made about him. He didn't have a young love interest or a best friend who also served as a comic relief. He didn't organize a partisan group and he didn't save the world. Other books are about David and Goliath: a young protagonist is overlooked and undervalued and he comes and takes out the aggressing giant. Bradbury's book isn't about that. It's about awakening.

The Renaissance from history was an awakening. In Italian, Renaissance means "rebirth." It was a time where people began to read again and ask real questions about the nature of the universe and
ethics. It was a time where European culture had returned to some of her ancient roots in the Romans and the greeks. Many lost books were reclaimed. Authors like Cicero who hadn't been read in centuries were rediscovered. This new spark of learning was a definitive point in modern history.

Guy had his own mini-renaissance in his own head. He grew up a cog in the system. He worked for the government as a professional book-burner. He lived in suburbia as a respected member of dystopian society. At this point, I might give a few spoilers, so if you plan on reading this book stop here.

Guy met a mentor in his life who caused him to think about the world differently. The person wasn't older than him like one might think a mentor should be nor was she incredibly learned or skilled. She was a young teenage girl who liked to walk in the rain and notice the poetry in nature. She liked to watch the sunrise and think about where all this stubborn really came from. Guy wasn't the sort to watch the sunrise. In fact, society looked down on that kind of sentimental behavior.

She caused him to wonder if there was more to life than living and dying. The girl disappeared without warning one day. Guy wondered if she had been "taken away." He went on with his life, but now it was with a disquieted disturbance. What had happened to the girl? Why were there bomber planes always overhead? Why were he and his colleagues burning all the books? At that point, he wasn't ready to challenge his reality yet, but a watershed moment in his life was soon to happen.

Montag was at work. He had his napalm ready as his fire-crew went into the house. They had been tipped off that hundreds of banned books were being hidden in the attic. The police were usually there before the fireman to arrest the offending citizen, but this time the police had not beaten the firetruck to the home. The old lady who lived there refused to give up her treasure so easily. She chose martyrdom as she lit a match and burned the library, house and herself. Her shrill voice cried a forgotten quote from the old renaissance: "Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out!" This was said by Hugh Latimer before he was burned for heresy. It was as if Latimer was God's angel sent to tell the world that The renaissance was upon them. Montag had been shocked by this woman's extreme reaction and passionate love for her books. How could anyone love a simple stack of paper? 

Montag's story begins at the moment the woman dropped her match. A war is waged in his head over the real qualities of life. He has changed completely. As if he didn't even see himself do it, he snatched a book from the flames to read and keep for himself. It was a copy of the bible and he didn't even know what the bible was. As the book progresses he has to wrestle with his awakened self. he is no longer content to be a cog. He has a greater mission in life. Anger begins to pump through his veins as he sees the corruption of his society. His head hurts as he tries to break the mental chains society has shackled him with. He has to deal with loneliness. Extreme loneliness. If anyone else thinks the way he now does they hide it for fear. Montag sees the light amid the darkness. Its as if a shaft from heaven has lit a circle around Montag and no one else. Montag's own wife is a victim to blind darkness.

I hope I didn't spoil anything for you. I tried to only talk about the things from the book that are relevant to what I want to say next. Fahrenheit 451 is a book about Guy Montag's renaissance, but it also has a dark side: It's a book about the death of the Renaissance. It is an allegory to our own intellectual and spiritual death as a world. I wonder at the dystopian world that Ray Bradbury portrayed. It was a little mirror held up to mankind.

The people of the book were a loathsome people. They were only concerned with shallow things. Their petty lives revolved around who was dressed best, who had the biggest TV, and who could have the most fun. Children were stuck in the public schools nine days out of ten and the times they were home they just watched TV. Women concerned themselves with the fake families on TV more than their real families, if they had any at all. Most people cared more about their individual rights more than the welfare of their families. There were fun houses that let people smash cars and break mirrors. It was a 1950's picture of corruption.

Honestly, our world isn't much different from the one written up by Bradbury. My peers are all addicted to Fortnite and cigarettes have been replaced by the new drug of vaping. Girls don't think they are pretty unless they have the newest Snapchat filter on. Fads in health go by faster than I can keep track of them. People group themselves into categories like Nerds, Jocks, Cheerleaders, etc. Men and Women are absorbed by their careers and don't take a moment to think about their own estates. Our land is laden with the professional poor. I don't mean to come off as judgmental and preachy, but I hope that I have painted a picture of how our own land is like the Bradbury's nightmare world. Few today are just and true. Great thoughts and great books are not opened. Schools may force the student to read The Iliad, but who has seen any student become a wit nobler for having read it.

I can't help but think we are on the cusp of a darker world to come. It's like I'm standing on the white cliffs of Dover and can see the waves lapping below. I can lift my arm and wave it over the void. I feel like Montag did.

The books have the answers in them. And not the average run of the mill kind they sell at the airport. The great books have the answers in them. Books like the Bible, the Karan, the Book of Mormon, and the Torah. Books like Aristotle, Plato, Tacitus, and Cicero. Books like The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Origin of Man, and The Wealth of Nations. Books like Tom Sawyer, The Lord of the Rings, and Jane Eyre. Books like The Foundation Trilogy, Ender's Game, and the one at hand; Fahrenheit 451.

The greatest ideas of all time are there. Wisdom from the ages. Wisdom for the ages. They contain the answers to life's greatest questions. They tell a man how to lead a rich and fulfilling life. They deepen the understanding and sharpen the wit. They are a treasure worth dying for. Perhaps we are in a new age of the world, a death of the renaissance, but let us say the same words that Latimer said while tied at the burning stake: "Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out!"

1: History of the British Empire (1870) by William Francis Collier, p. 124;