Censorship And Freedom In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren’t they? Don’t we keep them moving, don’t we give them fun?” (Bradbury, 1953, p. 56). This quote shows a dystopian world, where control is happiness, and freedom is danger. But this book shows that control is not happiness and is instead fear, that freedom creates happiness and free thought. Bradbury portrays danger of censorship and power of knowledge in a few ways through the government, the civilians, and

Montag.

“Funerals are unhappy and pagan? Eliminate them, too.” (Bradbury, 1953, p. 57).

Control, everything in Fahrenheit 451’s world is controlled. The media is propagandized, the government clamps down hard on anyone disobeying, they set an example for others. They see critical thinking as an

But, if people break through this thin stratum that the government constructed, they will see the truth. The government fears the power behind

2

knowledge; they are fearful of literature that speaks of faith and experience, but books can’t be silenced. “Sitting around, talking. It’s like being a pedestrian, only rarer. My uncle was arrested another time...for being a pedestrian.” (Bradbury, 1953, p. 7). Fear, people are dominated by fear. It can drive some to extremes. It can make people submissive and moldable like most of the characters in this book: people that don’t leave their houses, who report their neighbors, and who are never really happy. It can also make people strong and resilient; it can make people who read literature, people who walk at night, people that have the threat of death looming above them yet they’re the happiest. They have the power to make their own decisions unrestricted from the censorship that stops others from having the freedom to do what they want.

“He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs.” (Bradbury, 1953, p. 9). Hope, Montag started his story with