How Does Censorship Affect An Individual's Knowledge

Knowledge is power. A power that gives the people their right to have influence in society. Imagine a world where this power was taken away. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a fireman named Guy Montag lives in a society some time in the future where a fireman’s job is to burn all books in order to prevent people from trying to revolt against the government with knowledge, and the books are replaced by mindless technology. Montag is originally one of the majority of people who is brainwashed and conforms to this society. After meeting an unusual teenager named Clarisse who introduces him to books, Montag starts to wonder what books are really like. As he begins reading literature, Montag breaks away from the others and becomes one of these non-conformists himself, speaking out against the corrupt society. Many key aspects of the society set up by Bradbury show how technology has destroyed this fictional society and causes readers to notice similarities in today’s real society.

Montag begins to question every aspect of his life, “I don’t know. We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. Something’s missing. I looked around. The only thing I knew was gone was the books I’d burned in 10 or 12 years. So I thought books might help.” (Pg.82) Censorship puts Montag in the dark; a place he no longer wants to be. Montag wants to be passionate about something worth fighting for. That passion leads him on a hunt for knowledge, guides him to books, and sets him free.

No apparent conflict with Montag and his cultural upbringing was introduced in the opening of the novel. Montag lives in a futuristic society so advanced that all houses are fireproof and house fires are not an issue. Montag laughed as his inquisitive neighbor, Clarisse, began telling him that she once heard that a long time ago "they needed fireman to stop the flames" (6). The reader knows it to be true that firefighters did, in fact, stop fires. Along the line of advancement in society, firefighters were in need of a new purpose, so they were given what was seen as one of the highest honors. They were to protect their society from nihilism and free-thinking; to burn all books, manuscripts and written information. Not knowing what a book is or the reason anyone would value one, gave the protagonist the illusion that he was only doing what was best for his society. In chapter 1 Bradbury announces that "It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed"(1). Towards the beginning of the novel Montag favored his job as a firefighter above all else; he loved to burn things. Books and their

Ignorance Leads to Censorship in Controversial Novel, Fahrenheit 451 ¨Yes. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.¨ (162). Contentious author, Ray Bradbury, has been told to keep silent as his books have been banned from various regions of the world for his ruthless honesty, still, he expressed his thoughts through his literature. Bradbury has exposed an impending culture by using many controversial issues we face, provoking the naive by showing the secrecy of the government through his compelling novels. A society where books are burned, firemen start fires, and life is lived fast. Protagonist, Guy Montag, is a fireman in this dystopian novel who is awakened to the numb and cruel ways of his generation when he meets 17-year-old, Clarisse McClellan, one who questions her surroundings more than anyone who he has acquainted before. Presented in this piece, Fahrenheit 451 author Ray Bradbury begets the idea that many find

Books were invented many years ago and have a big impact on our society we live in today. Many religions follow the text from books and used it today as a guide in the way they live. Imagine every single book and research topic were to be abolished and you had no knowledge of William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy, and the holy bible. All you know is what you're told by the government. Ray Bradbury's establish a profound system in which people are not allowed to read books to people to question the world around them and think for themselves. Montag is a proud fireman who obtains pleasure from burning books, but he slowly starts to question the reason why he does it.

Imagine a world where everybody loathes books and burns them. In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury; Montang is in this imaginary world where books are illegal. Reading books in this dystopia society can get you killed or put in jail. Censorship is only dangerous if humans are not aware of it. Montang was just a clone of everybody else until he staring reading books and realize that censorship is very important; it made him learn new things and new perspective about society.

Censorship in Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451 shows an extreme example of censorship in a dystopian future. In this future firemen are employed to burn books and real information of any kind is banned. The main character, Guy Montag, is a firefighter who burns books, he eventually rebels and decides that information is important. The truly terrifying aspect of the world is that it is not just the government who censor but the people themselves who do no wish to learn anything. They are comfortable reading tabloids, consuming trivial information and watching tv, all the while having no control in their government. This theme of censorship in Fahrenheit 451 is not only a huge detriment to the dystopian world but can also serve as a lesson in what could happen if our society were to censor.

After Montag does not show up for work one day after the tragic encounter at work the previous day, the head fireman Beatty shows up at his door knowing something must be wrong. Through some persuasive banter between the two men, the ethics and integrity of their job is questioned. During the conversation Beatty tells Montag that “[he] must understand that [their] civilization is so vast that [they] can’t have [the] minorities upset and stirred]” leaving what Beatty thinks the only solution is: burning books (Bradbury 58). Though there is many ways to settle an occasional argument between two groups whether it be because of religion, politics, ways of life or anything else, in this story they choose to solve this by burning all books. Did you know that today hundreds of books in America are being challenged for many reasons and eventually being placed upon a list of banned books? Many Americans today don’t seem to realize this but this situation is very relevant to our everyday life, sure the same extreme measures aren't being taken as in the book but if this continues some day it might. Therefore due to the censorship theme within this book, Bradbury made a very accurate representation to what our everyday life could look like in years to

In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag takes a stand expressing the importance of books to society through irony. During the story Montag turns against his duties as a fireman in order to

In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury provides thought about how society lives today. Bradbury uses the protagonist, Guy Montag, to make a point about the dangers of a divided society. In this novel, a society is created where all books and free thoughts are banned. Books are seen as the source of all unhappiness and thus, should be outlawed. Montag’s job, a fireman, is not to put out fires, but instead to create fires to dispose of unwanted books. Bradbury also uses the lenses such as social class, culture, and gender to make a point.

Censorship is manipulated and controlled by the people and is meant to ban inappropriate content, but it ends up taking away free will and violating rights. In Fahrenheit 451, the people of the world gathered up and banned all books because they believed it was making people unhappy. The censorship, however, ended up causing the loss of freedom of speech and the ability to be different, which is shown in Mildred (Montag’s husband) when she goes crazy as she sees Montag’s books (75 Golding). Mildred is an example of a common citizen who follows the rules and goes fast, and has no detail like everyone else. Mildrid’s average personality is shown when she calls the firemen on her own husband because he had books and stood out (107 Golding). Censorship

Each fireman has “black hair, black brows, a fiery face and a blue-steel shaved but unshaved look,” which makes Montag realize how his society is so censored(33). The firefighters and Montag burn books and are content doing so, but between each fire Montag’s interaction with McClellan creates an internal change for Montag. He smuggles a book from a house fire after catching a glimpse of some words and becoming even more curious. Because the society has censored the reading of books from society Montag’s physical action is extremely risky. The rule of society are broken when Montag takes the book and expresses his interest in it by reading. Such restrained societal rules push Montag to read and discover a plethora of knowledge in each book. Montag believes that if one is willing to die for books, then a greater meaning lies within. Thus, he strives even more to understand why the society is conformed and censored and wants to earn the knowledge that the society has censored out for so many years prior, and these actions define him as a deviant, rebellious protagonist toward

The text starts off with rather stirring imagery, the imagery of books being set ablaze by the protagonist, Guy Montag. As a member of a modern society where there is always a plethora of books available and therefore, a plethora of knowledge at one's fingertips it bothersome that one would want of rid the world of that commodity. Bradbury starts off his work by painting the vivid beginnings of a tale of a dystopian culture.

The Effects of Censorship on Society The use of censorship to examine and eliminate elements in media that are found to be unorthodox or radical has been prevalent in society for centuries. Through censorship, ideas found to be objectionable or offensive are repressed. In his prophetic novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury denotes the common practice of government censorship of books as a suppressive and marginalizing concept for humans because it strips them of the realities, truths, and meaning behind books and deprives them the freedom to deliberate and act on them. The protagonist, Guy Montag lives in a futuristic, American society and is a ‘firemen’; a group of men that deflect the old conventional purpose of stopping fires, to creating

Character Influence In Fahrenheit 451’s dystopian society, the possession of books is considered criminal. A once proud fireman who regularly burned books turned a new leaf and began to understand and value the importance of literature. Multiple characters in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 impact the ex-firemans, Montag, life in a