The Destructive Nature of Censorship Exposed in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

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Allowing for censorship to take part in any society is a domino effect that one-by-one removes all of its citizen’s rights and freedoms. In both societies, Bradbury’s and Fahrenheit 451, the government takes the driver’s seat and regulates what info the citizens can and will receive. Not only us this limiting the amount of knowledge learned, but is also puts all the power into selective and few hands. Lifeless and powerless, citizens are falling victim as the government controls them like puppeteers. All this control by censorship will eventually lead to a totalitarian nation. In Fahrenheit 451 the main character Guy Montag lives within this constrained world. Their main source for freedom of knowledge and creativity is through books. However, that gateway is roped off by censorship, making all books illegal. The government would rather just burn the books and give society all the information they need rather than producing a two sided way that offers a choice (76). In this dystopian society people are only being fed certain information. This becomes problematic for Montag because he was never an ordinary man. His free thinking form of intelligence quickly sets him apart from his peers. His wife Mildred on the other hand is a perfect example of one of the government’s puppets. Like the rest of society, Mildred is vacant inside and has no capability for any emotions or reason. “We need not to be let alone. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?” (52) Here Montag directly addresses Mildred’s problem of avoiding all conflicts that would make for an intellectual being. This is because Mildred can always be found glued to the couch spending time with her family. Building dumb pe...

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...their intellectualism. The people in this deprived world are incapable of thinking independently and being able to hold meaningful conversations. “Nobody listens anymore. I can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say” (125). Once Montag starts reading, he realizes how out of place he is anymore. There is no one to connect with because he is not conforming to the world and their rejection to free thinking. The government does not give any opportunity to think originally. Mindless entertainment, like the Parlor, is the center is their existence. Unable to distinguish what is real anymore, the citizens blindly follow the controlling government into the dark.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. “Fahrenheit 451.” New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks 2013.

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