Censorship In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

You’ve been living your life being able to do as you please and learn whatever you want at your own will. Then one day, everything changes, everything’s censored and you no longer have the free will to do what you want. That’s the idea of censorship, we see this idea throughout Fahrenheit 451. This is the literal definition of censorship: the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security. There are so many negative effects and consequences of censorship according to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the dehumanization of people, a lack and fear of individuality, and heavy government control.

One of the most obvious effects of censorship in this

In part 1 of Fahrenheit 451 it says, “Beatty flicked his fingers to spark the kerosene. He was too late. Montag gasped.” (Bradbury 39) This evidence portrays the burning of a house and the mistreatment of a human being, a citizen of the country. They get a call about a woman having books and they allow her to leave the house, she refuses so they eventually just end up burning the house down along with her. I view this as dehumanizing because they’re depriving someone of their human qualities, in this case, education, optimism, and even curiosity. Also, in the text, Montag says, “You ever seen a burnt house? It smolders for days. Well, this fire’ll last me the rest of my life. God!” (Bradbury 51)

In Captain Beatty’s speech, he says, “We must all be alike. Not everyone is born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other…” (Bradbury 58) This quote by Beatty tells us why there’s no individuality in the world, everyone needs to be alike, and that’s the only way to make everyone happy. While doing this may be smart, 100% of people are never going to comply no matter what happens and as long as that’s the case those people pose a threat to the government and their society as a whole, those like Faber, Montag, and Granger because they can spread whatever message they want. Toward the end of the book Granger says, “Welcome back from the dead.” (Bradbury 150) This phrase is used to congratulate Montag on snapping into reality. With there being such a lack of individuality and everyone being in unison, not many people can think and realize that they’re living in a controlled society. Although Montag has been struggling to find his identity, he’s now around people who were once in his