Similarities Between Fahrenheit 451 And The 1950's

Fahrenheit 451 and the 1950’s

It brings fear to the eyes of most on how similar some fictional books and the real world can be. The history of english literature goes back a long way. Mostly all of the novels, poems, epics, and short stories that are considered english literature, relate to a certain event or time in history. In the case of the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, history influenced the author to write the book and also influenced the plot and events in the book. Fahrenheit 451 is about a totalitarian, dystopian society where books were burned and censorship was abundant. The main character, Guy Montag, is a firefighter but not the typical firefighter you would think of. In the book, firefighters burned book in order

In the book censorship of the world lead to a dark mood. McCarthyism and the red scare connect Fahrenheit 451 to the historical world. McCarthyism was started in 1950-1954 carried out by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Artists, writers, and musicians were banned from carrying out work. Many people were blacklisted. The world was feeling threatened, “Many prominent individuals suspected of sympathizing with liberal or humanitarian causes were branded a communist threat, and even accused of espionage” (Biography). Like in Fahrenheit 451, people were falsely accused for no reason and punished. The fire fighters ‘blacklisted’ all people who read books, and therefore burned down their houses. Another comparison between the censorship in history and in the book was the burning of books in Germany by the Nazis. Viewpoints conflicting with the Nazi regime's propaganda were burned or censored. There was a very long list of books illegal to be read. This all started in just 1933. Nazi regime was so powerful one can see it when it says, “ We still face censorship today, just not as extreme. Ray Bradbury used historical context from different parts of history to compile the main theme of censorship in Fahrenheit 451. In the book we see an attempted explanation to why they had censorship when it says, “Bigger the population,the more minorities. Don’t step on the toes of the dog lovers, the cat lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians, second-generation Chinese, Swedes, Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen, people from Oregon or Mexico. The people in this book, this play, this TV serial are not meant to represent any actual painters, cartographers, mechanics anywhere. The bigger you market, Montag, the less you handle controversy, remember that!.. Authors, full of evil thoughts, lock up your typewriters. They did” (Bradbury 22). Captain Beatty, the captain of the fire fighters plays an important