‘A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon.'” - Captain Beaty This quote I find especially important to the story and message as it highlights the way people were scared into believing that books were weapons of evil and mass destruction and should be destroyed. I find this eerily similar to Mccarthyism and the way it was used to scare Americans senseless at the mention of communism and even the color red. Fahrenheit 451 is a book set someplace in the future written by Ray Bradbury in 1953 the book displays a concern for the direction the country was taking and the dangers of technology and brainwashing. The book follows a young man named Montag as he burns books for the fire department and questions the morality of his actions. This book ties really well into the same themes and lines of thought as Mccarthyism as it is about the government using their voice to scare citizens into a state of compliance. Mccarthyism started in the 1940s and on into the 50s kicking off The Red Scare and putting Americans everywhere into a state of paranoia thinking communism was going to jump out and attack them from anywhere at any time. The government warned it could be your teacher, your neighbor, even your own sibling spreading the evils of the USSR and their fascist views. The scare tactics and fear mongering used by the United States in the 50s are very present in the book as well with fear being used to deter people from sinister books. …show more content…
On Feb, 9, 1950 in wheeling West Virginia a young U.S senator from Wisconsin gave a speech that made it out to americans across the nation who listened intently as he made the bold claim of having a list, a list of names of members of the state department that were