Censorship In The Handmaid's Tale

On page 31 in Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag and Captain Beatty, who are firemen, say, “‘What happened to him?’ ‘They took him screaming off to the asylum.’ ‘He wasn't insane’...’Any man’s insane who thinks he can fool the government and us.’” They automatically assume that the person is insane because they were harboring books and hiding them from the government. Both of these stories show how the government is being unjust and unreasonable.

Ironically, Fahrenheit 451 is one of the most banned books in American schools. The book was seen as evil for ideas like opposing the suppression of freedom by parties that presumed they had all the answers. Books such as Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Brave New World, The Giver, and The Hunger Games have been banned in schools, and they all explore the themes of suppressing freedom, information, and intellectual thinking. Prohibiting these books will only lead less thought; it will lead to the ultimate demise of society. If we do not learn from them, we will become them.

Nazis gained their reign in 1933 and lasted around a dozen years. They performed many barbaric actions to the Jews throughout their reign. This included taking down their businesses and stripping them of their citizenship. Hitler supported the Nazis as Adolf Hitler is their leader.

They would mow down row upon row of shivering, half naked adults, and smash the heads of babies with a show of pity or remorse(Wistrich). The psychological effect on those who lived during the Holocaust are beyond any superficial description. Hitler mainly targeted the Jewish population because he defined Jews as a race not a religion. For the period of 12 years million of Jews lived under the Nazi power and it persecution towards them. They held the highest population in all and every camp.

While he dictated, the culture of Germany was changed. Hitler wanted to make the population all think and be one certain way. To make this happen he made, “ Musical performances, movies, and other cultural public activities...all meant to make German’s brains exactly like the Nazi, eliminating any other thought of anti-government”(1). By controlling what people watched and read, Hitler brainwashed Germans to think positively of him and the Nazi’s. The population was not able to freely read or watch any sort of literature or other arts.

In the novel Anthem the author, Ayn Rand discusses the ways Equality 7-2521’s world is a dystopia because independent thought, information and freedom are restricted, the natural world was banished and distressed, a concept is worshipped by the citizens and the society is an illusion of a perfect , utopian world. To begin with, Ayn Rand explains how the Equality 7-2521’s world is a dystopian society because the freedom of think and do anything for yourself is restricted. Equality states “It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see... It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own.

In 1925 when Mein Kampf was released, Hitler’s ideology blamed Jews for Germany’s failure when they only made up almost less than 1% of the German population. Adolf Hitler was a notorious figure. He told lies one after another and German citizens believed him. Adolf Hitler had Germany fooled and the whole country blindly followed him into a dictatorship. Germany was looking for someone to point the finger at for their regression and Hitler gave them the perfect victims.

During the war, Ray Bradbury witnessed the Nazi book burnings as a teenager, where the Nazis would burn all books going against their beliefs. Bradbury also would have witnessed what is called “The Great Purge” where many poets and writers were either arrested or even executed. As he later became a writer, with him witnessing such events, it would only make sense for him to write a novel about a time where books are banned, to show the readers the importance of books in our society. Some themes discussed in this story are the themes of literature and writing, technology and modernisation, rules and order, wisdom and knowledge, violence, identity, dissatisfaction and man and the natural world. “Fahrenheit 451” is entered around Guy Montag, who gets curious about books, in a world where books are both banned and burned.

The Nazi’s removed the civil of the Jews, and this greatly affected the Jewish children. There was more than 1.2 million Jewish children that were murdered during this time. One of the first laws that affected children greatly was the Law Against Overcrowding In German Schools and Universities. They

After the first World War transpired, Germany was left a broken country. Germany was forced to compromise and sign the Treaty of Versailles, which limited

Jackson Craig Vero-Lynn Honors 11 English Some Date Nazis role in the holocaust The holocaust is one of history’s biggest travesties caused by the Nazis during World War 2. During his rise to power, Adolph Hitler claimed that Germany had been tainted by people who were not Aryan, Hitler’s ideal race of blonde hair and blue eyes, he claimed that in order to make Germany whole these undesirables must be eradicated. Initially Hitler took the Jewish rights and freedoms away stripping them of any power.

The society of both novel, “1984” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” shares familiar methods in order to maintain higher power to control lower class citizens. Their absolute goal to gain complete dominance is through removing or destroying a piece of humanity in order for disobedience or rebellion to be impossible. Gilead and Ingsoc constantly condition citizens by monitoring and invading their privacy. Both regimes employed similarly styles of monitoring, such as spies organisations or simply through the surveillance camera.

Part of the human condition is to find enjoyment in dystopia. To experience dystopia through film and literature is to experience a life that is outside our realm of reality, but inside our realm of possibility. Dystopia makes us feel safe because our lives are better than those described in the books we read and the movies we watch. A story about dysfunction and control on large scale is not successful on its own. Authors rely on a world of character development, connotative diction, imagery and literary devices.