Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

Initially, Bradbury condemns government control, and loss of freedom by banning the use of books. For instance, the firemen owns a book that contains a regulation on what is required to do after the alarm is activated due to a complaint about books, “Rule 1. Answer the alarm swiftly. 2. Start the fire swiftly. 3. Burn everything. 4. Report back to firehouse immediately. 5. Stand alert for other alarms.” (Bradbury 38). According to the quote, people are brainwashed to repel on books, and instantly report it to the firemen if someone has possession of books. This reveals that firemen are set-up to willingly decrease valuable books by burning them. In other words, the mindset of a fireman is to destroy books, and to eliminate people’s freedom

They coated each book, they pumped rooms full of it.” (42). In this case, the firemen’s intention is to achieve the extinction of books. They want to get rid of every book there is in the society, which points out how they want to extinguish the comprehension between books and the people. Not only this shows the loss of freedom, but it also shows power of the government. People are petrified of the firemen burning their houses. Because of this, people are more aware of their actions, and more cautious in interpreting with books. Finally, Mildred turned Montag in to the firemen because she was afraid of getting caught with books, “‘Was it my wife turned in the alarm?’ Beatty nodded. ‘But her friends turned in an alarm earlier that I let ride…’” (119). This proves that the government is powerful enough to make people betray their own family. The people would rather walk out on their family than to support them. To clarify, the government has the ability to make the people dislike the books, and take away their right to learn by frightening them from having books. Overall, the banning of books is one of the ways Bradbury criticizes the