Fahrenheit 451 - 3

3) What universal themes does this book address?  What does the author understand about human nature?

I think that the central theme in Fahrenheit 451 is honoring the value of literature and on a broader level, individuality.  Another theme could be finding the ability to think for one's self, instead of taking what you hear and never questioning it.  I find that these themes a significant reason as to why we, as humans, still read this book to this day.  These are both important lessons to think about and live by.  We have to make sure that we are not taking what we have for granted in this day and age.  Just because something new and cool comes out does not mean that we should ever leave what is important to us behind.  We should accept the positives of both the old and the new and create a balance, that way we never have to worry about losing ourselves.
I would like to think that something like this story would never really occur, but that just is not realistic.  This sort of situation was a serious concern for many people of that time, not just Ray Bradbury.  When this novel was released, many people had to rethink what they were doing.  I feel as though this book may have actually changed what was happening in that era.  Television is far more used today than books, but at least we are all somewhat individual about it.  We are not sitting in front of TVs all day, or at least I'm not.  And we most certainly still use books in school and in many lines of work.  Even still, the possibility of technology overtaking the world as we know it still remains, and it always will.  We must always remember to manage what we have and keep thinking for ourselves.
We as people are meant to have opinions.  We are not meant to mindlessly take in information without thought (Bradbury 95).  This whole book reminds me of Disney's Wall-E.  Everyone just goes through the steps and never questions the past.  Ideas like these make me fear what our world could possibly come to.  I appreciate that people like Ray Bradbury were around to question the system, and have had influence on people today.  

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1954