Ray Bradbury uses a couple of different techniques to lure in readers in Fahrenheit 451. The first and main technique is mystery. I had no idea what was going to happen. Maybe Beatty was on Montag's side when he was telling him about the books, maybe he was some sort of double agent, or an undercover firefighter (like undercover cops doing drug busts) whose goal was to arrest Montag. Bradbury kept me guessing the whole time. Was Montag going to convert to be an illegal reader? Was Mildred going to turn him in? Or would it be one of her friends? Is the Hound going to kill Montag? Was Montag talking to and observing the Hound a foreshadow (Bradbury 25)? The book brought about many questions. Keeping the reader guessing what would happen next is a very good technique to hold interest in the story. I guess that technique is also called suspense, but any good mystery has to have suspense in the story, otherwise what is the point in reading the mystery?
The other technique is originality. I have read many fantasty, science fiction books but not about a futuristic world where books are burned, televisions are four dimension on all four walls, firefighters burned down houses, and the "good" guys memorize books then burn them too. Using the Harry Potter analogy again, there are so many wizards going to magic school knock offs its ridiculous. And very few of them are good. Also there is an onslaught of vampire books and movies. Nothing is original these days. Ray Bradbury wrote an original novel that fifty years later is still remembered and read by a lot of people. Fifty years from now no one is going to know what Twilight is. The future people will know the original vampire though, Dracula. Instead of remaking and rewriting things, people today need to stimulate their brains and produce some original material. We are losing that ability and headed toward a Fahrenheit future as more people watch TV then read books. The originality aspect of the book made it interesting since the whole concept was new and I didn't know what to think of it all.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.
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