Censorship Exposed In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury stated that he wrote the book Fahrenheit 451 to share his concerns about the effects that over-censorship and media were having on the society in which he lived. However, despite this book being written several decades ago, many of Bradbury’s concerns remain relevant. In fact, the detrimental effects of over-censorship, such as emotional immaturity and desensitization, are prevalent in our current society, especially in online spaces. When utilized correctly, media serves as a tool to share creativity and connect with others, but without proper caution, it can have a negative impact on the way we interact with the world around us. A lack of censorship can cause desensitization to harmful topics, while a lack of exposure can lead

Characters' actions throughout the story demonstrate immaturity, especially in response to negative emotions, however, the most prevalent example of this is when Montag is speaking to his wife Mildred in which he states “I haven’t decided. Right now I’ve got an awful feeling I want to smash things and kill things” (Bradbury 79). Although Mildred encourages this behavior, Montag's behavior is more indicative of an underlying immaturity, as, despite his efforts to grow and improve as a person, he still falls back on the immature reflexes that have been ingrained in him from those surrounding him. Rather than working through emotions through communication, the society of 451 turns to violence, so they can push out these emotions through any means necessary. Their desensitization to violence explored later throughout the story, only encourages this, as violence often turns into violence towards animals or other people. Violent urges are not uncommon throughout our society. People will punch walls and hit inanimate objects. Cases of abuse are also often a result of pent-up anger expressed through violence. The only aspect in which we avoided Ray Bradbury's fears of emotional immaturity is that these actions are somewhat condemned. Not as much as they should be, but it isn't encouraging, like Mildred is doing. When negative emotions result in anger, we are told to seek help to work through those issues, but considering communication is seen as antisocial throughout the book, this option becomes obsolete. With no other outlet for expressing or working through emotions that they struggle to recognize, violence becomes the first means of venting frustration, even to our character Montag, who in many ways is working to disconnect himself from the way in which his society