By Adila Shahira
Edited by Siti Nur Najihah
I treat books like humans — one with body, spine, and mind. Looking through a different lens, they’re quite similar. Different languages, colours, and shapes, and one had a mind of their own that waited to be revealed, learned and applied. It’s like knowing someone’s thoughts and engulfing yourself in them. Each one brings you gifts of knowledge, things that people around you might never tell you, things that only happened in history that now almost cease to exist, things that maybe “Fahrenheit 451,” written by Rad Bradbury, wants to tell you.
Like a bittersweet letter from someone in the past who wanted to warn us, people of the future.
I had no regrets picking up one of the greatest literature of all time and buying it on a whim because “Fahrenheit 451,” written by the famous American writer Rad Bradbury, leaves a scar in my mind like a little-to-no book would. Set in a dystopian era, where people live similar to those house cats inside a cage, Guy Montag, the protagonist, finds himself slowing down from his life, contemplating and questioning, which later carves his path towards something unprecedented but better.
Guy Montag is a fireman, but not your typical, ordinary fireman. While the purpose of a fireman was to set off fire and other noble actions to save people, in this well-written novel, they save people by burning books. Yes, a fireman starts the fire by burning any books found in any household as if they were some kind of disease or illegal, most treacherous object. The irony should be highlighted because it’s getting interesting from there.
Curiosity was something I developed greatly while reading this book. The big question ‘Why?’ hanging above my head like a lightbulb, waiting to be switched on.
The novel portrays a world where books are banned and forbidden. One was in sight, and they were burned to ashes. If they’re found inside a house, the whole thing inside would get licked with kerosene, and some of the owners are willing to die to protect their possessions. All these happened solely due to the books being influential, urging people to think and contemplate the universe and life, which was something that the people during that dystopian era fear.
Montag iss used to holding his brass nozzle and spreading fire around people’s houses, burning books like a child play, making sure it’s set at the temperature Fahrenheit 451, “the temperature at which book-paper catches fire and burns” was written at one of the first pages of the book. It was the life and job he chose for the rest of his life until he found how awfully screwed and terrible it is.
He goes from feeling nothing for the books he burned to memorising each passage to storing them inside his brain. His journey to turn his back on his team and the world is one thing, but the underlying meaning behind his words and actions is another.
When the world neglects books and prefers something simpler, quicker, and entertaining, humanity starts to crumble and succumb to nothingness. Imagine when having books was illegal and having to be put in jail for the ‘crime’ you committed. How horrifying that was, and yet, it is not possible, judging by the world we live in at the moment.
Everyone knows that books could be controversial, influential, and contagious like a virus. Words themselves were powerful. One can write and speak, and one will believe. And yet books teach us more than humans can. No one can deny the importance of books and their contributions to society.
Therefore, appreciate books before it’s too late. Before, the library was nothing more like an abandoned building like a tourist attraction. Knowledge is powerful, and the most effective way of seeking knowledge is through books. Its importance can even be seen by the first revelation sent to the Prophet Muhammad SAW by Jibril from Allah SWT, the famous ayah we know, the start of the Prophet Muhammad SAW prophethood,
“Read, ˹O Prophet,˺ in the Name of your Lord Who created—” (Al-Alaq, 96:1)
I think the significant part of this book that Rad Bradbury wants to emphasise is to read more. Hold books like a treasure. Montag is seen memorising a few chapters of a book and later gathering with other people who are like him, siding with books and memorising them because they know they could not keep a physical book; thus, relying on their brain to memorise is a must.
One of the most beautiful dialogues someone could ever speak about books is from Faber, a retired English professor who said to Montag,
‘Number one: Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me, it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You’d find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more “literary” you are.’
‘So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life.’ - Faber.
The pores were something we feared because the truth hurts, and basking in comfort was way more comfortable than walking through a rough path, and yet, that was our purpose, to learn and get wronged, fail, and stand up again so this time we can walk with strength and pride.
‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’ - One of the men with Montag.
Sharing my two cents, maybe we can start to read more, appreciate more, and share the knowledge we know before possessing books becomes felonious and before reading becomes illegal. By then, we can avoid the future that Rad Bradbury pictured in “Fahrenheit 451.”
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