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Fahrenheit 451 analysis
Dystopia compared to modern societys
Dystopia compared to modern societys
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Lois Lowry once said, “Submitting to censorship is to enter the… world where choice has been taken away and reality distorted. And that is the most dangerous world of all.” This quote perfectly explains the major theme of Fahrenheit 451, which is censorship. Due to the use of censorship by the government, people in this society are unable to form their own opinions, make their own choices, and are forced to live with distorted realities of the world they actually live in.
What makes the modern American society so different from the dystopian world? Different governments give us different societies. There are several differences and similarities in the governments between the modern American society and the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut and The Selection by Kiera Cass. In the culture of Fahrenheit 451, the government didn't want their citizens to read books to gain knowledge, so they banned all the books from them; in Harrison Bergeron, their government was lowering everyone to make them all equal; the book The Selection was giving each individual a specific number to represent their wealthiness, though it did depend on the family and that person’s gender the same time.
The two main themes in Fahrenheit 451 are censorship and knowledge versus ignorance. The government limits the amount of information that the public receives by burning all books that are found and jailing the people who have kept them. Two big reasons for the censorship of books was the general lack of interest in reading and the hostility towards books and the material they hold. The growth of technology provided many more methods of knowledge and entertainment that resulted in the majority of people no longer being interested in reading. These new ways also shortened the attention span of the people.
Fahrenheit 451's society is gradually emulating modern society. Some similarities include the fact that, as technology advances, books are becoming less popular in both societies and that certain information is classified by our government and not available to the general public. Censorship is used by both societies to limit knowledge. “There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”
Imagine living in a world where all great minds in the past have been erased. Imagine living in a world where the government is run on a disciplined system which is capable of being molded and formed to their liking. Well in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 such a dystopia exists, Ray describes a world of censorship and brings awareness to the impact of this futuristic civilization. The main protagonist is a 30 year old fireman named Guy Montag, but in this world fireman doesn’t mean the same. He has a friend named Clarisse who later dies tragically, and his boss Captain Beatty who is a shrewd, ruthless man that tries to arrest Montag later on.
In this Dystopian novel, books are not meant to be read, but rather meant to be burned. The world is dictated by the government through the censorship of books because they are a distraction to society. It’s a fast paced lifestyle with no room to slow down, read a book, and concentrate on what’s important. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, there are many examples of references to literature that show the theme of the novel, which is how censorship affects a society, like when the women was going to be burned with her books, when Beatty was explaining to Montag why books were burned when Montag felt sick, and lastly, when Montag let Faber see the Bible. Censorship played a huge role in Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, because it was used to limit education, spread propaganda, and change history to benefit the government.
Fahrenheit 451 is a book about Guy Montag; a fireman living with his wife in a dystopian future where books are illegal. Firemen are responsible for burning houses that have books in them and arresting people who have books. This all changes when Guy starts collecting books as well. This leads him to go on a perilous adventure that could get him killed. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses allegories, motifs, and symbols to show that censorship is a danger to society and it will lead us to our doom because it results in us being desensitized, depressed and violent.
A majority of people agree with this ban, and see books as an obstacle to joy. The role of censorship in Fahrenheit 451 is to insulate the people from being disturbed or reflective, feelings caused by exposure to books discussing unpleasant or philosophical topics. The driving forces behind the banning of books were the increasing population of the world,
In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag's journey from being a fireman who burned the books of others, to a different person who enjoys reading them is shown. Montag lives in a dystopian society that strives to make all its people happy without complications by removing all causes of conflict. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury shows When new ideas lead to society's ignorance it allows for many problems to arise and result in destruction. In today's world, a big controversy is book banning, banning books that may start any conflict, this is very similar to what we see in the novel, in the novel there are many New Ideas, the main one being the fact that books are banned.
While Fahrenheit 451 is set way in the future, there are still current events that portray societal elements of the story, such as censorship. The society in Fahrenheit 451 burns books to keep people from reading about the past and how things used to be. The government in Fahrenheit bans all books and only shows on tv what they want you to see, and they hide the rest much like countries today. There are many forms of censorship in the current world.
Censorship is an important theme in Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451. Censorship affected this alternate society in many ways. The government censored all books and made it illegal to read anything other than informational booklets. This affected their society by making the people living in it emotionless and unaware of the world around them. It led to television and radio being the main focus of their lives.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is based on very true events in U.S. society. Throughout the decades it has been shown how ideas and opinions that differ from society’s perspective have been censored and blocked from the public of America, which is very similar to the main idea of Fahrenheit 451: Books are illegal and burned based on uncommon beliefs. In real life, this idea is taken through banning books. Book banning has dated back decades, all the way from the time comic books were labeled as controversial in the 1950s, beginning with a child psychologist creating big accusations on the dangers of children reading comic books. A movement occurred from his ideas.
Have you ever thought about how living in a dystopian society would influence your life? Well, the idea of censorship is used in the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, to make an impact on the audience. Bradbury uses certain elements of dystopia in his novel to show censorship, which significantly effects the society in the novel. For example, Bradbury uses the dystopian element that says citizens live in a dehumanized state, to show that their society believes that curiosity is unacceptable. Next, he uses the idea that in a dystopian world, information, independent thought, and freedom is restricted, to show how books are bad in their society.
John Dos Passos once said, “Individuality is freedom lived.” The root of individuality lies in freedom. Without freedom, there is an inability to think for oneself and share one’s ideas. In a society where this freedom is lacking, people will not think for themselves and submit to whatever rule is enforced over them. In Fahrenheit 451, the government attempts to control freedom as a means towards reaching a perfect society.
Dystopian Society- an imaginary society that is as dehumanizing and as unpleasant as possible. In the book Fahrenheit 451 this is how people live. Comparing this to our society may seem very different but there are some similarities. For example, people in both societies brake rules and get consequences for their actions. There are many similarities and differences that these two societies possess, for instance, the electronics, the books, and the sameness and quickness of the societies.