Theme Assignment

Theme Statement:

Censorship causes diminished individual thought

By:Morgan Register, Abigail Gunter, Sudarsana Addepalli, Brianna Smith, and Megan Hernandez

Timeline:

• In the beginning, Montag burns books because as a fireman he thinks that it is best for society.
• Montag meets Clarisse and finds her peculiar due to her deep insights on society and how she spends lots of time thinking.
• After Montag sees a lady go down with her books, he begins to question his beliefs on censorship.
• Montag goes and talks to Faber.  He thinks Faber is interesting because Faber is not affected by the censorship surrounding them in society.
• Montag tries to shed some light for Mildred and her friends by reading them a poem, but the plan backfires.
• Montag returns to the firehouse to continue the “book burnings” but finds that their next assignment is his house.
• Montag runs from the government and escapes to the woods and joins Granger and the book people to continue his growth of individual thought and knowledge.

Quotes:

1. “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed”(Bradbury 1).
2. “The Captain belongs to the most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom” (Bradbury 122)
3. “So long as the vast population doesn’t wander about quoting the Magna Carta and The Constitution, it’s all right,” (Bradbury 147).

Theme to story importance: This theme is crucial to understanding the book because, the premise of the story is based upon the censorship of books and knowledge.

Theme to society connection: This theme is relevant to our society today because censorship plays a major role in how economical information is presented and how it is designed to sway opinions.  It is important for us to study this theme because it helps us to remain aware of the freedom of having individual thoughts and the ability to gain knowledge.