Theme Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

The government censors literature in Fahrenheit 451 the most out of everything they do censor. Guy Montag very quickly discovers their censorship on literature. Ray Bradbury states “ ‘Do you ever read any of the books you burn?’ He laughed. ‘ That’s against the law!’ ‘oh of

Throughout the decades, certain restrictions have been shown in various forms from newspapers to television to social media. In America today, it serves as a positive outcome due to it protecting children from watching certain shows that they are too young to see. However, there are negative effects of censorship still prevalent in some parts of the world today. Censorship can block new and varied beliefs and ideas, which hides information from the public. Consequently, this is seen in the book Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury. In the dystopian society, many of the citizens daily routine consists of the act of burning books, watching manipulative “parlor families” on television, and not being accepted for doing things out of the norm. The residents in the story are limited to only juvenile thinking and actions which makes the society less diverse and knowledgeable. Even though restrictions can be effective at times, the author expresses the sense of censorship and how it is a bad influence by revealing certain characters that are affected by the restrictive society.

Censorship is the practice of examining pieces of information and taking out the unacceptable parts. Governments use censorship to create perfect societies, but deep down, they cannot censor how people really think and feel. In reality, censorship is a form of destruction that ruins valuable information. In the book, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the movie Pleasantville by Gary Ross, and the article "Freedom To Read Is Still In Danger" by The Huffington Post, the authors share a similar theme of how governments use censorship. In Fahrenheit 451, the society uses censorship through burning books. The government in the movie Pleasantville does not want people to have feelings. Lastly, in the article, the United States has the idea that some

“We stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought. We have our fingers on a dike. Hold steady. Don’t let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world. We depend on you. I don’t think you realize how important you are, we are, to our happy world as it stands now.” (Bradbury 59). This quote illustrates, how the societies government is making people think that books and theories are what makes the society unhappy. This is what makes the people that start theories and read books separate from their society and hide from the government and their cruel punishments towards the book readers. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, a man named Guy Montag, goes on a journey to find out about the books that are hidden from his society. Along the way, Guy starts to notices that he is different from the others who watch the “parlor walls”. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the author, Ray Bradbury teaches the readers the theme of censorship to show how the protagonist, Guy Montag, changes as a result of the conflict in his dystopian society.

In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury books are the sworn enemy and only thing keeping people from happiness. Since books take away happiness, people start to question or even shun them. Bradbury’s society has taught people to value tangible things rather than fictional books. Books aside, the society made other, less time consuming things for people to do with their free time. Since these activities do not require much brain power, the general public’s attention span has decreased greatly. However, other people take the discouragement of books as motivation to further preserve the classics. It depends on if they are able to see through the ploy, or if they get caught up in it. The effects of censorship on individuals and/or society in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 are a general distrust of books and people who read them, a very limited attention span in a pleasure-seeking people, and rebellion in the form of memorization.

Fahrenheit 451 has a community in which technology and medicine are used in negative ways to brainwash citizens. Television and abusive drugs are used to encourage an anti-thought society. Take away thinking from humans and people will become empty, physical bodies, unable to think or feel. Humans need to be content, and the only way this can happen is if we

In Fahrenheit 451, owning and reading books is illegal. Members of society focus only on entertainment and speeding through life. If books are found, they are burned and their owner is arrested. If the owner refuses to abandon the books, as is the case with the Old Woman, he or she often dies, burning along with the books. People with interests outside of technology and entertainment are viewed as strange, and possible threats. In this novel, censorship plays an enormous role and is noted to be the most important theme through the actions of the people and the reason why the banned books in the first place.

“That’s awful! ...Why should I read? What for?”(Bradbury, 73) Mildred hates the fact that her house and her ‘family’ would burn down if Beatty and the other firemen found out about Montag and his books. Mildred doesn’t understand why Montag wants to reason with her and what he finds so special in books. Mildred is a selfish woman who cares only about herself and her friends. As long as nothing happened to her ‘family’, she’d be fine.

When someone is having a bad day or is depressed, upset, or mad, they try to hide their feelings. That is how it was in the novel. The censorship that was controlling the community and the residents began to control feelings. Bradbury reveals in the novel how censorship affects Mildred. Mildred begins to hide her feelings from her husband. Due to her hiding her feelings, she begins to fall into depression. Mildred’s depression, consequently led Montag, her husband, to find her on the floor with an empty pill bottle in her hand; “The small crystal bottle of sleeping tablets which earlier today had been with thirty capsules and which now lay empty in the light of the tiny flare" (“Bradbury 17”). The censorship in Fahrenheit 451 not only leads Mildred to depression but also leads her into a state of denial. She begins to deny what she would and would not do. This is seen when Mildred specifically says, "’I wouldn’t do a thing like that. Why would I do a thing like that for?’" (“Bradbury

The main theme in Fahrenheit 451 is censorship, and how it affects life.   The book Fahrenheit 451 is very against censorship, and it is the main message.  It only takes a couple people to be offended or against something written in a book, and then the book is edited.  

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

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity” said Albert Einstein This is similar to the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury when he talks about his negative point of view to the use of technology. Although Ray Bradbury wanted readers to understand that the society in Fahrenheit 451 has no room for literature, the theme of Fahrenheit 451 is censorship because fast cars, loud music, and massive advertisements creates the society and they did not appreciate normal things such as reading books. The theme of censorship appears in the novel several times and is a major theme throughout.

This idea or theme called censorship, is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.Bradbury’s ideals for this novel have shown a different light on what a society can function like and how the people are so unaware of such as knowledge and happiness. The theme of censorship is proven in the novel by the firemen and how they are so uneducated about the ideas of knowledge and happiness, the secret understanding that the people don’t have about books, and the standards and sameness that these people rely on in their everyday life. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the characters, Montag, Clarisse, Mildred, Faber and Beatty have some impact

Censorship will always interfere with freedom of speech. In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, censorship is one of the main topics depicted. Censorship including the banning of books has been an issue though out history. There has been violence similar to the book burnings by the Firemen in the novel. In Bradbury’s novel, Guy Montag is a Fireman who cannot understand why books have to be burned. He questions what is in the books that can’t be shared with people. Guy questions his boss, Captain Beatty. Beatty explains, “Obviously, The danger is not in the actual act of reading itself, but rather, the possibility that the texts children read will incite questions, introduce novel ideas and provoke critical inquiry” (Karin pg. 132). The fear of knowing too much is really the issue. If people broaden their knowledge then they can think creatively and have their own opinions. Censorship is not about protecting people against bad things or ideas it is about keeping people in the dark so that only a chosen people have the power and the knowledge.

Imagine a world where you can't express your feelings, where censorship is everywhere, where books are illegal. Ray Bradbury's dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, is one of the most famous science fiction books ever written. He shows how harmful censorship can be. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses the tone to show how harmful censorship is through his word choice, his use of historical figures, and his use of positive role models.