Censorship And Technology In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

A simple book written with the best intentions; Ray brings to the world Fahrenheit 451 in

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury gives a glimpse of a future dystopian society. Guy Montag is a fireman who lives in this isolated society, where books are banned due to the fear of free thinking. And Fireman’s job is to burn any books that come in sight. People in this society are emotionless, they don’t read books or question about what is going on around them. Instead, they spend most of their time watching TV and listening to the radio. Government aspires a perfect society where individuals are not allowed to read books, have cultivated conversations or complex thoughts. Whoever fails to follow the rules or goes against them, eventually gets killed. Bradbury depicts a society in which books are burned as means to destroy knowledge.

In Ray Bradbury’s dystopian Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag experiences a paradigm shift as he transforms from a disoriented fireman to a learner who wants to gain knowledge through literature. Montag struggles with his newfound fascination with what was once trivial items because of his inability to ask questions under the bonds of conformity. However, the society prohibits people from reading for fear that they would express individuality and perhaps even rebel once they gain knowledge. Through the use of characterization and diction, the Bradbury demonstrates Montag’s desire for individuality and the society’s command of conformity in order to build a suspenseful mood, which keeps the reader’s interest.

Fahrenheit 451 shows how people’s rights to free speech and media are essential to a free thinking society. Guy Montag, the main character, is a firefighter, which in his futuristic society means he burns books for the government because they are illegal due to the potentially controversial ideas they contain. Montag meets a girl named Clarisse, who helps him realize he’s not really content in how he’s living his life and in his relationships, which begins to change his viewpoint on the society’s standards. His wife Mildred, as well as the rest of society, are highly materialistic and shallow in their daily activities and interactions. Montag eventually steals a book during the fireman’s raid on a house, which leads him to seek out a man named Faber, who is an educated man, and helps encourage Montag to take steps to action. Beatty, the firehouse captain, had been suspicious of Montag being in possession of literature. His dubious thoughts are found to be correct when Mildred turned Montag in. Montag is forced to go on the run, leaving the city for the countryside, where he finds other outcasted intellectuals. The city is bombed, leaving it completely destroyed and the society in ruins. The society Ray Bradbury creates in Fahrenheit 451 showcases how censorship is a threat to free thinking, society’s humanity, and human relationships through the use of imagery, symbolism and motifs.

Matthew Nodder ENG 3UC Mr. Hokstad May 2, 2017 Essay Rough Copy Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a dystopian society where knowledge and critical thinking is considered to be different. The novel revolves around the main character, Guy Montag, referred to as Montag throughout the novel. Montag is a firemen, which means that in his society he starts fires rather than puting them out. A ban was put on books by society the people because they were seen to create a form of inequality, and contained controversial content. This was replaced by modernized technologies such as wall televisions.

“Fahrenheit 451” Censorship and the Danger of Technology In today’s society, it is truly amazing how easily we can access information from all over the world. By using the internet or reading a book one can find answers to any question one may have. If for some reason access to all that information is restricted or taken away, that would be censorship.

Censorship can affect everyone in the world in many different ways. In the case of the book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, it has a negative effect on the city. The government banishing the books from society is taking away the power of knowledge from the people. Knowledge is a way of power and with that, the more knowledge one has the more power they will have. This is also the case in slavery in the U.S in the 18th century. Information is key to a humans life and it build their life. An example is the book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” Information is power and if it is taken away from someone their power goes with it.

“The books went up in a sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.”(4) Do you ever wonder what the world would be like if we banned books? If firemen start fires, instead of stopping them? That’s the kind of society Guy Montag lives in. Guy Montag is a fireman that's job issues him to burn books, to prevent people from reading them. In the dystopian society people would rather replace family with technology. Along with the government banning books, so people won't think differently about their society. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the author shows a dystopian world where people are ignorant and have little to no knowledge. It’s also where people’s lives rely more on technology than family.

Fahrenheit 451 a novel written by Ray Bradbury highlighted the idea of censorship,the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, flims,nes, etc. that are considered obscene , politically unacceptbl or a threat to security. Censorship wasn’t theony themei this book it also largley highlight that people are willing to die for what they believe in.

Ju Hee Kim Mrs. Maxwell AP Literature 9 August 2015 Censorship? Technology? Or Both? In the scholarly article, Sam Weller: Ray Bradbury’s 180 on Fahrenheit 451, Sam Weller clarifies the controversial theme of censorship in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a uniquely shocking and provocative novel about a dystopian society set in a future where reading is outlawed, thinking is considered a sin, technology is at its prime, and human interaction is scarce. Through his main protagonist, Guy Montag, Bradbury brings attention to the dangers of a controlled society, and the problems that can arise from censorship. As a fireman, it is Guy's job to destroy books, and start fires rather than put them out. After meeting a series of unusual characters, a spark is ignited in Montag and he develops a desire for knowledge and a want to protect the books. Bradbury's novel teaches its readers how too much censorship and control can lead to further damage and the repetition of history’s mistakes through the use of symbolism, imagery, and motif.

The world gets crueler everyday. There are new crimes being committed daily, and sometimes it can be because of what people are subjected to. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, this topic is discussed. In order to create a more positive environment, the world needs censorship. Without it, kids would be surrounded by bad influences, people would always find topics to argue about, and lives can even be ruined without it.

The story of Fahrenheit 451 follows a man named Montag who works as a firefighter in this society. Firefighters in this society do not put out fires though, they start them. Firefighters are government employees who burn any books that are found. The government in this society tries to control what the people think and how they act. They do not allow people to think for themselves.

Ray Bradbury born in 1920 to a middle class family. Bradbury went on to write and publish over five hundred pieces of literature. One of the novels he wrote was Fahrenheit 451, where he attempted to predict what the United States of America would look like in the future. The novel illustrates the idea of a totalitarian government and society burning books to stop the spread of knowledge, by following the development of the main character Guy Montag. Furthermore, the novel bring up the idea of Plato’s cave, in which Montag attempts to overcome the ideas of the society he grew up around.

Joseph Brodsky once said, “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” In an interview concerning his science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury echoed these words because his novel displays such a crime. Although Fahrenheit 451 classifies as fiction, the book points out several problems that now take on the body of reality. Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 exhibits how technology possesses the capability of affecting people negatively through the characters’ actions and the story’s made-up creations.