Censorship In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

Guy Montag lives his life as a fireman who burns books as a living. Soon a young girl showed up in his life to open up his world. What he knew about the world is changing and expanding. Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, expresses many types of themes relating to self-discovery, freedom of expression, following a mainstream and censorship. Detail in the book highlights censorship as the main theme. The main are distractions, spreading misinformation and similar instances. All of them are explained in the story to show how it relates to censorship. To begin, the theme that could be seen throughout the book would be censorship, and one of its main details would distractions. There are different ways that the author, Ray Bradbury, displays

They tell me things; I laugh, they laugh! And the colours...And besides, if Captain Beatty knew about those books--" She thought about it... "He might come and bum the house and the `family.' That's awful!

Think of our investment. Why should I read? What for?". (Bradbury 34) In this scene, Montag is asking help from his wife to read the books with him that he's gathered to gain information. Mildred doesn't see the value in reading and prefers to stick with her family, the television walls. She's too distracted by her televisions to think about her husband or herself. In a critique written by Edward Eller gives a detailed explanation on how society effected Mildred. Eller explains how Mildred is being immersed in the society she lives on through, "Montag and his wife, Mildred, live in what Bradbury imagines as the culture which might be produced if such trends continued. They live in a futuristic community that uses technology to control what they think and feel by controlling what they see and hear (Eller)." He writes a statement that says, "The situation is so serious for Mildred that she might as well be an empty shell, a corpse, or a machine herself (Eller). "Altogether, this shows how society has given these resources to shift the community's mind away from reality. The distractions help make the censorship more

Because it's illegal to have books in Montag's community, there isn't a reliable way to gain information. Television and radio would only brainwash a person into thinking other things or the way society wants someone to think. Moreover, any books available would have been like the rulebook in Montag's firehouse. A way that society gives misinformation would be through Montag's chasing. While Montag survived the chase, the police officers had to do something to calm the public that Montag was captured and dead. Granger was able to explain how the media faked it through, "They're faking. You threw them off at the river. They can't admit it. They know they can hold their audience only so long. The show's got to have a snap ending, quick! If they started searching the whole damn river it might take all night. So they're sniffing for a scape-goat to end things with a bang (Bradbury 69)." The media wasn't able to capture Montag's death, so they had to find an innocent victim to kill. It wouldn't be worth the effort for officials to find the Montag. Ray Bradbury and The Assault on Free Thought written by Daphne Patai gives a similar idea to this scene in the book. In her article, she says, "The potential for television to falsify reality is further stressed when, near the novel’s end, the TV broadcasts the hunting down and killing of Montag (in the event, he is already far away, and