Daniel Ngira's Key Ideas from Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury is without a doubt a gifted writer. His book has been a cultural milestone and has been taught in educational institutions across the world

In Fahrenheit 451, he puts across an overarching theme of a dystopian future in which books are banned and technology has engulfed the masses. That is the selling point of the book, and ironically my main issue with it.

While the author paints an accurate picture of people’s reduced concentration spans and an increase in consumerism, majority of the book is spent chastising technology and with it, all its future advancements.

It goes without saying that technology has brought with it some negative and potentially counterproductive effects ranging from a lack of privacy, increase in the fatality of weapons, addiction among the masses, the list goes on and on.

However, I believe that things only harm you if you let them. Opioids become detrimental once abused, Guns become deadly in the wrong hands. Technology is a vessel, and we, humans are the captains.

In retrospect, I can understand that in the era that Ray Bradbury wrote the book, technology was but a new innovation, and it’s possibilities were endless and scary.