Fahrenheit 451

"We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind."

Fahrenheit 451 represents a society in which the lives and the minds of the people are controlled by the government. The government has made the firemen, along with the other workers, believe that the society they live in is a perfect utopia where everyone "must all be equal". However, the protagonist of the novel, Montag, has realized the truth of his world and the truth that the government has been hiding from the people.

This passage in particular reveals what the government has transformed their society into. They have hidden their deepest reasons within the words of the Constitution. The Constitution is used to gain the support of all the people so there will be no opposition in what the government wants to do. They have blocked off all things that will enlighten the people; the government has forbidded their people from gaining knowledge by burning all the books in the world. In the passage, the government compares a book to a "loaded gun in the house" because they want the others to fear books and treat them as a threat to their society. Not providing their people with knowledge or a different point of view allows the government to obtain absolute control over the people. They won't be able to see the flaws of their society and they won't be able to protest against it.

This type of government is similar to the one in the Gattaca because the people of that society are forced to live the life that the government determines for them. Using technology, scientists analyze their genetics and decide which career fits their traits. The people are not given any freedom to think and act for themselves. Burning all the books in the world does not allow the people in Fahrenheit 451 to think freely and express their thoughts. They are forced to live a certain way under complete control of the government.