Farenheit 451 and How it can Motivate a Generation of Intellects by Kaia

Farenheit 451 and How it can Motivate a Generation of Intellects by Kaia - February 2015 Scholarship Essay

Fahrenheit 451 is a book every high schooler should read before they graduate because the book is an excellent warning to our generation about the future we could have without education and our continued over dependency on technology. It also encourages us to go against the grain and fight for what we believe in. I think that before we move on to become future leaders we must understand what our future could look like. From this book we get the importance of talking to each other, learning and formulating our own opinions, and just how much potential we have.

The most important thing this book could teach anyone is to not be afraid to question what you have been taught. A lot of times people do not ask about the things they see around them, they simply follow along and accept that that is ‘how things are.’ In the book no one questions about books and why they are not allowed. Something so simple as asking “why?” sparked something so powerful in someone that he decided to find a way to make a change, and that is something we as teens should learn before moving on to the next step. As students going to college we are going to be called on to participate in intellectual conversations, and apart of participating in those conversations is to be able to see things from different points of views. However you cannot do that if you can not both understand and argue from those different points of view. A lot of times people are afraid to go against what they have been taught. In the book for example none of the people question why books are banned, they simply allow themselves to be consumed by their technology and do not expand their knowledge nor question their beliefs. Instead they live lives planned out for them. We are too bright as a generation to do that. We have so much hope and potential that we are being distracted from and we must remember not to lose our sense of curiosity. Look what happened to people like Mildred, Guy’s wife. She was a lost human being, almost robotic. She could not hold any conversation worth anything, she was selfish, and she was severely depressed all because she did not ask, but followed. In college we will be introduced to new ideas, beliefs, and ways of thinking in general and it is important we approach these new things with acceptance. Alot of times these will go against things you have learned before, but that it not a bad thing. In fact those new ideas can be taken and shared and used to change the world. If we live by what we are taught then we are not living at all, and for sure not learning.

One of my favorite quotes from the book will always be “It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.” Which to me means you have more power to influence than you think, its about how you use it. We as a generation have so much potential, we are more advanced as free thinkers than those before us and yet we are not being treated like it. From severe budget cuts to being literally dismissed and told we are not important to the development of our society when we are the ones who will in fact carry it. We are reminded that arming ourselves with education is important, that it can literally change lives. We are not encouraged to tap into our full power, and access to that power is being blocked. But like Guy, we give ourselves power. He was in the beginning apart of a system that had power and at the same time a victim of that said system, and once he realized that he gave himself the power to change that system. Guy is an excellent example that each of us have so much potential inside of us, and that is what makes Fahrenheit 451 so powerful. The protagonist is someone we would have thought to be the enemy. Which also teaches to the fact that it is never too late to change and unlearn, and tap into your skills as a leader.

In conclusion, Fahrenheit 451 is a very important book especially to college bound students. We as young people are important strong people, and we can be reminded of that by this book. The lessons in this book are things we are expected to either know or learn through college, so why not read it? This book is the kick that budding intellectuals need to their confidence. This book is an excellent reminder that we are the future, and without us keeping intelligence and free thinking alive our future could look like their’s , something none of us want. We are reminded to create the future we want, if we truly want to see it without fear and with as much determination as possible.