Extreme Censorship in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

Extreme Censorship in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was an interesting Science fiction

thriller that provided an odd view on the censorship of books. Not just some

books, but all books. An entire distorted culture and civilization where all

books are prohibited. And the penalty for being caught with books is that the

books must be burned and in some cases the penalty may lead to death. In this

tale of censorship and self discovery, Bradbury leads the reader through a short

period in the life of the protagonist, Guy Montag. A firefighter struggling

with his conscience to determine if a society without books is right.

Fahrenheit 451 has an entertaining theme and plot and a well paced story line.

This book combines catchy description and well thought out characters to put

together a gripping story that keeps the readers attention. It is interesting to

see how a once controversial topic could create such a dystopia.

Fahrenheit 451 had many examples of good writing techniques that made it

a good novel. One technique that Bradbury did a good job of using was

description. He described things specifically using outstanding similes and

personifications. One example is how he mentioned the fire hose. He called it

"the great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world." (Bradbury

3) This made the reader not only visualize the hose but get a feel for the mood

about the firemen at that time. Another example of good description is how he

described the physical appearance of the firemen. "Their charcoal hair and

their soot-colored brows and their bluish-ash-smeared cheeks where they had

shaven close." (32) The adjectives charcoal and soot-colored describe the color

of their hair but also are words that relate to their job as a fireman. Finally,

an excellent example of Bradbury's descriptive writing was when Montag pulled

the trigger and set Captain Beatty on fire. "There was a hiss like a great

mouthful of spittle banging a red-hot stove, a bubbling and frothing as if

salt had been poured over a monstrous black snail to cause a terrible

liquefaction and a boiling over of yellow foam." (117)

A different aspect of writing that made Fahrenheit 451 a good story was

the way he kept the book well paced. There were few dead spots in the story and

few spots that pushed the storyline along too quickly. Another aspect of the

story that made it enjoyable was the characters and their relations to each

other. Each character brought a special part to the story that effected the

plot and other characters.