“1984” and “Fahrenheit 451”: A Comparison
Tristen Nuest
The two books “1984” and “Fahrenheit 451” are very similar, even though they
don’t share many literal characteristics. The authors of “1984”, George Orwell, and
“Fahrenheit 451”, Ray Bradbury, created famous dystopian novels that change the way
people may think. They not only show us the control our government could have over us
but also the measures needed to achieve that control.
The books are both loosely about the power our governments could hold over our
minds and what it takes to overcome the intellectual hold they would have. 1984’s main
character, Winston Smith, works a small government oriented job and starts to develop
relationships, this then leads to his realization of the brainwash he is under. He started to go
against what was considered “correct”. He fell in love with Julia, a beautiful dark-haired
woman who works in the fiction section at the Ministry of Truth. Fahrenheit 451’s main
character, Guy Montag, works as a firefighter and lives a simple life. He follows all laws and
that usually includes burning books. In this story the government almost doesn’t want the
people to learn things that could ever lead to an independent mindset. But this is all until he
meets Clarisse McCllean, a female character in the story. She gets him to think about a
different way of life, which eventually leads him to rebel against the government and start
collecting books. These novels story lines are obviously similar and share a loose
connection.
The books both use a story to convey their overall meaning. This is a peculiar and
fresh approach, as many books wouldn’t undermine the story to give an underlying
meaning. They both have a main character that gets influenced by a character that doesn’t
become crucial to the plot line. A similarity between the novels is that they were written
around the same time. The stories both played a fun and new story, but both had some
distinguishing factors. The books are very different and similar in many ways. Both books
are told from a third person point-of-view. The 3rd person point-of-view aided in the
realization of the real meaning of the stories. In both of the stories the main character was
played by a male role and then the main character was influences by a girl.
There are some things that distinguish the books from each other. A big difference
in these two novels is that in 1984 the citizens are watched over much more and there are a