Fahrenheit 451 is a widely known and well-acclaimed book with a cloudy history. The book has been the center of much controversy over the years, which is ironic given that the subject of the book involves a dystopian world where certain books are banned and those that read them have their possessions destroyed. Fahrenheit 451 is a cautionary tale constructed to warn humans of what could potentially happen if we allow governments to have too much power over what we are allowed to know. Despite being heavily censored in the late 1960s, the book remains a staple of literature today. The most notable incidents involving Fahrenheit 451 include incidents in 1987, 1992, and 2006. In 1987 a school board in Florida reduced the book to third-tier …show more content…
Those who defend Fahrenheit 451 are thinking about the issue rather than just acting on quick judgements, and this is obvious by the higher level of intelligence displayed in their arguments. The opinion that the book should be banned because of its references to drunkenness and use of profane language are extremely weak. What are the chances that a middle schooler hasn’t heard someone say “hell” or “damn” before? It is unreasonable to expect authors to clean up their perception of the world just so that we can pretend that our children’s ears remain unsullied by the profane language that is all too common in today’s society . The other main argument, that Bradbury portrays Christians in a negative light and advocates the burning of Bibles, is equally laughable. If the people making these claims had actually read the book and realized the message Bradbury was trying to convey, they would realize not only how ironic their demands were, but also that they were grounded in nothing but their own prejudiced beliefs. Nowhere in the book does Bradbury advocate burning Bibles (LA Weekly), on the contrary, he shows that he is against the burning of any books, regardless of whether or not they are
Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 leads from an average beginning by introducing a new world for readers to become enveloped in, followed by the protagonist’s descent into not conforming to society’s rules, then the story spirals out of control and leaves readers speechless by the actions taken by the main character and the government of this society. This structure reinforces the author’s main point of how knowledge is a powerful entity that would force anyone to break censorship on a society.
The theme of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 can be viewed from several different angles. First and foremost, Bradbury's novel gives an anti-censorship message. Bradbury understood censorship to be a natural outcropping of an overly tolerant society. Once one group objects to something someone has written, that book is modified and censorship begins. Soon, another minority group objects to something else in the book, and it is again edited until eventually the book is banned altogether. In Bradbury's novel, society has evolved to such an extreme that all literature is illegal to possess. No longer can books be read, not only because they might offend someone, but because books raise questions that often lead to revolutions and even anarchy. The intellectual thinking that arises from reading books can often be dangerous, and the government doesn't want to put up with this danger. Yet this philosophy, according to Bradbury, completely ignores the benefits of knowledge. Yes, knowledge can cause disharmony, but in many ways, knowledge of the past, which is recorded in books, can prevent man from making similar mistakes in the present and future.
“Revealing the truth is like lighting a match. It can bring light or it can set your world on fire” (Sydney Rogers). In other words revealing the truth hurts and it can either solve things or it can make them much worse. This quote relates to Fahrenheit 451 because Montag was hiding a huge book stash, and once he revealed it to his wife, Mildred everything went downhill. Our relationships are complete opposites. There are many differences between Fahrenheit 451 and our society, they just have a different way of seeing life.
You take advantage of your life every day. Have you ever wondered why? You never really think about how much independence you have and how some of us treat books like they’re useless. What you don’t realize is that both of those things are the reason that we live in such a free society. If we didn’t have books and independence, we would treat death and many other important things as if it were no big deal. That is the whole point of Ray Bradbury writing this book.
Imagine a world of uniformity. All people look the same, act the same, and love the same things. There are no original thoughts and no opposing viewpoints. This sort of world is not far from reality. Uniformity in modern day society is caused by the banning of books. The novel "Fahrenheit 451" illustrates a future in which the banning of books has risen to the extent that no books are allowed. The novel follows the social and moral implications of an over censored society. Even though the plot may seem far-fetched, themes from this book are still relevant today. Although some people believe that banning a book is necessary to defend their religion, the negative effects caused by censorship and the redaction of individual thought are reasons why books such as "Fahrenheit 451" should not be banned.
Fahrenheit 451 is a book with a variety of themes including mass media, censorship, conformity vs. individuality, distraction vs. happiness, action vs. inaction, and knowledge vs. ignorance. These themes are expressed through events, quotes, and characters in Fahrenheit. The themes are also expressed in the real world in many things.
Often, dystopian novels are written by an author to convey a world that doesn’t exist, but criticizes aspects of the present that could lead to this future. Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in 1951 but discusses issues that have only increased over time. The encompassing issue that leads to the dystopic nature of this novel is censorship of books. The government creates a world in which it is illegal to have any books. Firemen are enforcers of this law by being the ones to burn the books and burn the buildings where the books were found. By censoring the knowledge found in books, the government attempts to rid the society of corruption caused by “the lies” books are filled with in hopes the people will never question. In Fahrenheit 451, censorship is a paradox.
Fahrenheit 451 follows a controlling policy. The policy is, the citizens are controlled what to read or what not read. If this policy is broken, the firefighters’ responsibility is to remove the books that are not approved from the government, then burn them. In the book a firefighter named, Montag meets a little girl who changes his whole perspective about books. He later than steals books from the fires that were meant to be burned. The government makes these laws to form a happy society, so if people go against the government it would create a chaotic society.
All around the world, books have been hated, attacked, and boycotted by groups, schools and individuals because of the messages it suggests. This poses the question, why do people feel threatened by certain books? Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury intimidates various readers due to the mirror effect on our world today in terms of the issues it’s filled with. Novels being banned eliminates the chance of people learning from the messages within them. Bradbury connects the book to readers by using minor characters and specific language to suggest solutions to present day issues, such as false happiness due to technology and therefore should be defended.
Fahrenheit 451’s Relevance to Today Fahrenheit 451’s relevance to today can be very detailed and prophetic when we take a deep look into our American society. Although we are not living in a communist setting with extreme war waging on, we have gained technologies similar to the ones Bradbury spoke of in Fahrenheit 451 and a stubborn civilization that holds an absence of the little things we should enjoy. Bradbury sees the future of America as a dystopia, yet we still hold problematic issues without the title of disaster, as it is well hidden under our democracy today. Fahrenheit 451 is much like our world today, which includes television, the loss of free speech, and the loss of the education and use of books. Patai explains that Bradbury saw that people would soon be controlled by the television and saw it as the creators chance to “replace lived experience” (Patai 2).
The book Fahrenheit 451 is placed in a dystopian world within the future of our country. The government within this setting ban the freedom of thought through
We live in a time of laziness and choosing an uneducated TV show over a book containing precious knowledge. In Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451, we witness a world where books are banned and people are encouraged to sit all day and watch television. The smart ones that read books live in a life of fear since firemen in this world are commanded to burn the houses of anyone that owns a book. Our society isn't at that point yet but a large group of our society are showing strong similarities toward the people in Fahrenheit 451 that sat around all day. This is also encouraged by everyone wanting to be “In the know” so they decide to watch TV all day. The book Fahrenheit 451 is a warning to our society that if we do not stay educated we will ultimately
The book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury tells the tale of a future society which outlaws books. This book has a lot of symbolism and the symbols used in the text help support what the purpose of the book is, being to avoid conformity and not to let society become uniform. This book fights for individuality and shows just how important that is by displaying the consequences of destroying this characteristic.
In the book Fahrenheit 451 the theme is a society/world that revolves around being basically brain washed or programmed because of the lack of people not thinking for themselves concerning the loss of knowledge, and imagination from books that don't exist to them. In such stories as the Kurt Vonnegut's "You have insulted me letter" also involving censorship to better society from vulgarity and from certain aspects of life that could be seen as disruptive to day to day society which leads to censorship of language and books. Both stories deal with censorship and by that society is destructed in a certain way by the loss of knowledge from books.
As it is inevitable that children will grow up to be exposed to the world's evils, which are shown in novels like Fahrenheit 451, teaching the context and meaning of those evils in a learning environment allows for more of a educated understanding and a fuller grasp on the issues within. By reading controversial novels in schools, students in middle and high school will benefit tremendously by being exposed to them in a learning environment. Although teachers and parents have control as to what the students are exposed to at a young age, Fahrenheit 451 should not be banned from middle and high schools as it depicts the effects of censorship on a dystopian society through use of controversial material which doubles as