As technology advances and increases, society becomes numb and unfeeling, relying on it to acquire the feeling of being alive. This is one of the many interpretations of the social message of Fahrenheit 451, a book that was written by Ray Bradbury. The book was published around 65 years ago in 1953, yet its themes and social message still stands up today. Censorship is a major theme in 451, brought to light by the outlawing of books and their subsequent burning. Guy Montag, the main character of the book, is one of many firemen who burn things instead of putting out fires. If a person is found with a book, these firemen will come to their house and burn them. The person then either gets arrested or dies with the books. The knowledge lives on within the reader in jail, or it dies with the reader in their own house. It is not only non-fiction books that have become censored, but fiction books that are generally meant for entertainment as well. It is said that people lost interest in these books over time, shortening them from the full book to the main parts, ending with only the title left. The society has lost all interest and enjoyment from the slow satisfaction books provide due to the high-speed, loud, call-and-it’s-there-for-you stream of constant electronic entertainment that has been introduced to them. This censorship has its place in our …show more content…
We would become number and number until we exist for the sole thrill of technology. He uses characters to speak for him in different ways, using a strange girl by the name of Clarice to tell us how people have become numb and obsessed with speed, and Beatty, Montag’s boss, to show tell us about the censoring, how being too politically correct can water down literature, and tells us about what happens when people only want the short version of a story, rather than the whole