Fahrenheit 451 Argumentative Essay

Potter Stewart once said, “Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself”. The word Censorship simply means the control of the information and ideas circulated within a society. When censorship is the or one of the main roles in a community or in one's life then you lose control of all actions that take place every day. Being controlled by someone or something else forms a plain world for a person or organism to live in. Fahrenheit 451 helps prove the idea that censorship is more harmful to a society due to distraction, influence, and the restraining nature of the content.

The first way that Fahrenheit 451 proves that censorship is harmful is by distraction. This can be seen when Bradbury writes, “Mildred watched the toast delivered to her plate. She had both ears plugged with electronic bees that were humming the hour away”(Bradbury 16). In the book everyone is distracted by the technology, and TV’s on the walls, and the cool new gadgets. Mildred reminds me of us teens today. She is plugged into the world around her and is not paying attention to the more important things. They do not take time to stop and look at the world around them and that is caused by Censorship.

A second way that Fahrenheit 451 proves that censorship is harmful is by influence.

This as well can be seen when Beatty said, “I’m counting to ten, one, two.” ,“Please,” said Montag, “Go on,” said the woman, and Montag felt himself back away (Bradbury 36). Humans are influenced by one's around them. The only thing that people see throughout the book is technology and they become obsessed with it. Montag has been impacted by the woman who killed herself. This made him open his eyes to the world which is what society needs in present times. The reason that they only see TV, and computers, and people surrounding them doing the same thing is because of censorship located in the core of the

society.
The last way that Fahrenheit 451 proves that censorship is harmful is by the restraining and controlling nature in the content. As said in the first paragraph, the word censorship is defined as someone or something controlling another. This is noticed when Beatty speaks to Montag, “The bigger your market, Montag, the less you handle controversy, remember that! All the minor, minor minorities with their navels to be kept clean,” as Beatty went on to say, “Books, so damned snobbish critics said, were dishwater. No wonder the books stopped selling, the critics said”(Bradbury 57). Beatty tried to explain that censorship did not come from the government, it came from the people. Actually, the government stopped all reading so that events could be done faster and make people happier when in fact, all that did was hurt the society. This is why someone else should not attempt to control another’s life because it ends up doing more damage to them then you would think.
As one can see, the book Fahrenheit 451 helps to prove that censorship is more harmful than helpful to a society. Censorship creates hurtful influence, distraction, and absolute authority in any sphere. The state of being happy is needed in a human’s life. Freedom is key in creating that happiness in life. One always need to remember that, “To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to the family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find a way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.”- Buddha.