Freedom In Fahrenheit 451

In order to preserve the structure of humanity, people must have freedom of expression, free will, and equality. Any attempt to create an utopia must respect, honor, and nourish these human needs; for without them the society will eventually become a dystopia. An analysis of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Giver by Lois Lowry, proves that any social structure that hopes to achieve utopia must insure that the citizens have their basic needs met, opportunities to pursue personal goals and dreams, and freedom to be unique.

In order to maintain the aspect of humanity, people must have free will so that they can do what they please as long as they do not interfere with others’ lives in ways that are inhumane. In Fahrenheit 451, the society is built so that citizens cannot get access to books that have

philosophies or ideas that would make people become unique, and thus hurt the structure of the society. The government’s techniques are shown well through the words of the Fire Captain Beatty, “Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of "facts" they feel stuffed, but absolutely "brilliant" with information. They’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with.” (Ray Bradbury, page 58).
This shows that the government was creating a dystopian utopia and the people were not given free will. In The Giver, the character’s wills were restricted because everyone was forced to be the same, thus making the citizens lack the free will to do as they pleased.
For the preservation of  the nature of humanity, people must have freedom of expression.

In The Giver, people were not allowed to change their schedules and express themselves. "How could someone not fit it? The community was so meticulously ordered, the choices so carefully made." (Lois Lowry, page 47).  Everyone took part in the community, but nobody was allowed to express themselves differently, which made the society a dystopia. Fahrenheit 451 did not strictly disallow expression, however, it lacked freedom of expression, as the people were "dumbed down" by the lack of books and the society’s system.

For one to maintain the essence of humanity, people must also have equality. Equality is necessary so that everyone can be unique and different. If one did has freedom, the society will become a dystopia. In Fahrenheit 451, people were equal, but many people did not have equal rights because the government planned to eliminate the people who thought differently. The Giver also had a distorted form of equality because people were not allowed to be free unless they were in very high positions in the government, and the normal people could only do certain

things.
In order to make an utopia possible and to preserve the essence of humanity, equality, freedom of expression, and free will must be maintained so that people may stay human and possess uniqueness.