Fahrenheit 451: Dystopia
“Any man’s insane who thinks he can fool the government and us.” (Bradbury 33). This quote came from the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In Fahrenheit 451, censorship in the society consists of book burning, manipulative parlor families, and intolerance of those who attempt to be an individual. Books in the society which Montag, the protagonist, lives in are forbidden. The fireman burn books to ensure no one reads them. But, Montag becomes inspired by a young girl, and he begins to question the meaning of life the way he knows it. This book is revolved around censorship.
The first and main sign of censorship in the book is the burning of books. Book burning in the story is done by fireman to supposedly prevent the people of society from having unhappy emotions, and unjust thoughts. Any person who was perceived or proved to possess any sort of reading material was reported to fireman using alarms, which were sent to the fire station. On duty fireman then immediately went to the home of the lawbreaker and burnt the books they discovered in the home. Books were covered in kerosene and torched with a flame thrower. “It was a pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (Bradbury 3). Houses were made fireproof in order for the fireman to burn the books inside the house without causing too much destruction. Immediately after the books are burned, the offender is arrested and taken to prison. Although book burning was the most abrupt and outlandish form of censorship, people experienced mind censorship in their homes every day.
The second sign of censorship is the way the television works. Parlor walls are walls in a room used for watching television and specially designed “interactive” programs, designed to provide people with pleasure. They also had overwhelming sound systems built in. The shows were written for the soul purpose to please people in their parlors. The shows were watched on the...