Power Of Government In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

In times of chaos, the government may be ruled by too strong of a central leadership. The powerful government and absence of individual freedom was demonstrated in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Absolute power of the government was conveyed in the way individuals were living. The government provoked abuse and became intolerable. The reading of books being illegal shows what type of government was conveyed. In the teachings from Ray Bradbury, he describes a totalitarianism dictatorship through the eyes of society along with McCarthyism. Guy Montag, the protagonist in the book worked as a fireman in a futuristic American city. His job however was not to put out fires, it was to start them. In the beginning of the book, Montag

For example, Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union in 1878-1953 abused his power greatly following the Civil War. The Soviet Union was transformed from a nice, well-round society to a huge mess. The people feared for their lives. Another example that comes to mind for this type of government is Adolph Hitler. Hitler obviously wasn’t a very pleasant and tolerable individual. He was extremely harsh and also thrived off of power. He abused his authority and unfortunately it killed a countless amount of people. No authority was allowed from any citizen in both cases and even in the book. People feared for not only their country, but themselves. There was rarely any rebellious behavior from the people and no individuals were allowed to participate in assisting the

McCarthy swore every politician was a communist. Communism is a “system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self- perpetuating political party” (dictionary.com). The influence of McCarthy led to blackballing, which influenced Hollywood’s creative individuals and their business. During this time was when people were judged and had opinions that were far from the truth. Because of Bradbury living in this era, the book was greatly influenced by communism and McCarthyism. While people were promised the freedom of speech and liberty in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, censorship was not. Censorship has been allowed or enforced on rare occasions in the United States. In the beginning of the film making process, censorship was allowed for the sake of movies being entertainment and not a freedom of speech. Today, the effort to censor products comes from professional organized groups. As stated in research, Fahrenheit 451s editors cleaned out or deleted some of the language used in this book by