1984 Fahrenheit 451 Analysis

The dystopian American society presented in Fahrenheit 451 has an omnipotent government that inhibits the people through censorship and surveillance. When the book was written in the 1950s, spies, nuclear weapons, and new technology had just arouse from the Cold War and gave Americans an ominous and pessimistic perspective on their future. Throughout the opening pages, the government's absolute power allows them to manipulate reality and regulate the life of the populace. This adversely affects the life of the citizens and restricts their ability to think freely and be cognizant of the authoritative regime.

The science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is about a futuristic dystopian society where everyone follows simple rules/norms: don't read books and spend time with their “families”. The families in the novel are also known as the TV’s. Whoever in the novel reads or owns books, gets put down by the hound. Montag, a protagonist in the novel, works as the fireman whom are very violent (like the rest of the society). No one in this society ever think, but when Montag (Protagonist) meets Clarisse McClellan, he becomes to question everything. Bradbury tries to portray that when people become emotionless, they don’t think about their actions which end up being violent. Bradbury’s hound (terrifying mechanical beast that kills who are unlawful) represents a type of police in the society that regulates everything and everyone. Thus Bradbury’s predictions are similar to today’s society in the police forces (which are controlled by the government).

The dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 written by author Ray Bradbury in 1953, shows what he speculates the fate of society to be. Fahrenheit 451 takes places in the corrupt United States when people no longer read books and are satisfied only by entertainment. In Fahrenheit 451, the fire has been perceived in many different ways by the main character Guy Montag, once a fireman. Fire in Fahrenheit 451 represents both rebirth and destruction. Mythological creatures, such as the salamander and Phoenix have influenced the change in the perception of fire.

Sandy Hook Elementary School. San Bernardino. Paris. What do all of these places have in common? They fell victim to unpredictability. Mass shootings are not new to our society, but they are still a devastating problem that should not exist any longer. Mass shootings connect to the novel, Fahrenheit 451, through both the unnecessary violence and the absence of humanity that are evident in the novel. Mass shootings are a devastating problem in our society, and now their numbers have escalated to a new level. This change reflects how both our society and our humanity is beginning to crumble, solutions like banning unnecessary and excessive fire arms are currently being enacted.

In Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag is one man attempting to turn his society upside down. After discovering for himself the injustice of his society as it shuns all literature, Montag relentlessly fights to fix this corruption and endures large amounts of persecution in the process (Bradbury). Meanwhile, in his autobiography, Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass recounts his past as a single slave doing his best to right the evils of southern slaveholders. Although one takes place in a fantasy and one during 19th century America, both works portray individuals going against the unjust grain of their societies, and persevering through extreme opposition in the process. After escaping the grip of slavery, Douglass recounts his life story to a curious, yet most-likely privileged audience in an intelligent and revealing manner. Throughout his narrative, Douglass praises the surprising resilience of the human spirit even in the midst of constant hardship.

“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.” (Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart). This quote is showing exactly what the government in the dystopia of Fahrenheit 451 is doing wrong to the society. Written by Ray Bradbury in 1953, this book is set in the 24th century, where the population is controlled and books are illegal. The protagonist, Guy Montag, is a fireman in charge of burning any book that is found. The problem with the society, which relates to the quote above, is that the government has used censorship of knowledge and ideas to control the people; they did this in three major ways:

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a story that's deep meaning will make your hope for mankind burn brighter than ever. Bradbury's classic novel warned people of the past and people still today the dangers of the overwhelming presence of technology and the oppression of the government. Bradbury asks people to see the importance of books and intelligence, he tells us how we can benefit from them. Fahrenheit 451 was largely impacted by the fear of communism because of the time period that Bradbury lived in, which is very evident with the type of society Bradbury has created. Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 tells the risks of censorship and restriction of information through events such as outlawing books, people become mindless from censorship, and the use of mass media.

In the society of Fahrenheit 451 there is no meaning of books to the people. Ray Bradbury describes that they think books are useless and they give people pain and awful feelings. The reason for them to think that is they are missing three things that a society needs to read or understand a book. A society needs quality of information, leisure to digest it, the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the first two.

In the sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury censorship is a very important theme. The censorship gives a lot of power to the government, making the society seem like a dictatorship rather than a democracy. The government hires men to burn down houses that have been “infected” with books, because of this people have become numb to the outside world. They have almost no idea what’s happening outside of their own homes.

Throughout the story of Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses science fiction to convey his ideas of what a technologically advanced society holds in the future. Bradbury takes an approach of science fiction to show people of future technologies and how these could lead them to their destruction if they continue to neglect the past and become more absorbed with current and future technologies. Bradbury makes a very strong statement throughout the entire story about what the future holds if the past is forgotten and shows that there is a way to prevent future mistakes, but society has to look towards the past and remember their mistakes in order to do so.

People are always blocked from true knowledge and the government continuously will try to manipulate you, well having free education for all can get you to think for yourself without being controlled. Society should be more responsible for providing access and equity to free education for its citizens in order to give the people to think for themselves and not be manipulated by others that have knowledge.In the story it shows the government not really caring about the education of the people on how they just burn the books that people try to read, it's basically manipulating the people for their own. In harrison bergeron they give you handicapped and put you in same line of intelligence which makes it difficult to think for the themselves without their education, again it's manipulating the people to for their own needs.

In the book Fahrenheit 451 and the real world, publications are censored to control citizens of a society. Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury takes place in a dystopian society where firefighters burn literature, as the book is trying to imitate how present day governments try to control their citizens. In present day society citizens are constantly being censored by the government world wide, by eliminating access to certain media and releasing very selective information to the citizens. In Fahrenheit 451 and in current day society people of power use censorship to control people. This also occurs in the real world with cases like government scientists in Canada and the elimination of worldwide internet in North Korea. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, and in modern day

In the book Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury strongly criticizes government control and the loss of freedom in a totalitarian government. Every citizen is a thoughtless drone in the community with no sense of creativity or individuality. Bradbury expresses total domination through different types of censorship; the act of burning books, the role of firemen, and outcasts such as Clarisse. As a result, a dystopian society is formed and the citizens have no independence of their lives.

Now at first glance anyone may look at the book and wonder what does Fahrenheit 451 mean? Well Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper catches on fire. This is our first glimpse into Ray Bradbury’s dystopian world in Fahrenheit 451. So, this book was originally published in 1953 during World War II and starting the Cold War, which plays a huge role in what this book symbolizes. The author of Fahrenheit 451 is Ray Bradbury.

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses the government’s use of technology for censorship and absolute rule illustrate the worldview of a dystopian society from an attempt at a utopia, where the ideas of words and literature are banned. The attempt at the Utopia through censorship is seen in how the programs on the television are heavily restrained and restricted to only be used as a government stamped distraction for the public (26-27). The attempt of the utopia creating a dystopia is seen and evident in how the world sees the firemen as an evil to be feared rather than a just a simple government service (3). The dystopia is displayed through the constant violence between teenage children in society as an outlet to their aggression and hatred, rather than words, because of the mandated conformity and inability to do so by their society(14). This all shows Bradbury’s commentary against the high governmental control of freedoms such as speech, communication, and literature prominent in the story.