preview

Censorship in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

Decent Essays

Fahrenheit 451 accurately portrays Censorship as it has been throughout history. Ray Bradbury was probably influenced by world events during his time, such as the cold war and other diplomatic leaders who have censored their citizens to avoid the truth from getting out. From politicians right now and their attempts to censor the media, to censorship from the history of other foreign countries the actions of the “Firemen” in Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 are similar in method and meaning. The action of the book burnings by the “Firemen” to destroy self-thinking and self-awareness has been shown in a never ending cycle within the book and throughout history. Disposing of offending literature, violence or potential harm to the authors of books and writings are just some of the method in which people use to ban literature. The main character, Guy Montag, one of those “Firemen”, questioned why he had to burn the books on order from the government instead of letting people read them freely and what was so dangerous about the books that the government was willing to harm people in order to hide the contents of such writings. In the novel Montag takes a sick day, and stays home in the very same house that he has books hidden within, the Chief Captain Beatty came to visit him and explained that society had self-censored the books in order to achieve happiness and ease of mind, and how the government had taken advantage of that. “Obviously, The danger is not in the actual act of

Get Access