Effects Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

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Books are banned and burned. Feelings begin to fade. All written imagination and controversial thoughts are considered illegal crimes. Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury in the early 1950’s. The novel primarily focuses on a fictional U.S society within the 21st century, where books and literature are illegal. Books have been banned in this society due to the controversy over many topics and opinions. Rather than Fighting fires, firemen produce fires. The firemen burn the illegal books and the houses which shelter them. Throughout the story Fahrenheit 451, censorship has affected society by dehumanizing citizens, creating fear of individuality, and causing more rebellion, conflict, and crime.
Dehumanization is one …show more content…

Throughout the novel, dehumanization has contributed to and resulted in large amounts of conflict. People’s positivity is stripped away leaving only negativity. Society then finds a way to cope with their unhappiness, usually resulting in an increase in negative effects. One example of how censorship created negative conflicts includes, “A carful of children… had seen a man, a very extraordinary sight, a man strolling, a rarity… They would have killed me… For no reason at all in the world they would have killed me” (Bradbury 122). This quote shows how easy crime is to commit when positivity is no longer in your life. People are unable to differentiate right from wrong when negativity is filled inside them. Another example of crime within Fahrenheit 451 includes, “Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks” (Bradbury 27). This quote explains that death is very common in this society, especially among children. Children also may be seen as easy targets to those who are unstable. Throughout this novel, death and crime are very common. Unfortunately, negativity controls the majority of lives within this