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Similarities Between Fahrenheit 451 And The 1950's

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Fahrenheit 451 and the 1950’s It brings fear to the eyes of most on how similar some fictional books and the real world can be. The history of english literature goes back a long way. Mostly all of the novels, poems, epics, and short stories that are considered english literature, relate to a certain event or time in history. In the case of the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, history influenced the author to write the book and also influenced the plot and events in the book. Fahrenheit 451 is about a totalitarian, dystopian society where books were burned and censorship was abundant. The main character, Guy Montag, is a firefighter but not the typical firefighter you would think of. In the book, firefighters burned book in order …show more content…

In the book censorship of the world lead to a dark mood. McCarthyism and the red scare connect Fahrenheit 451 to the historical world. McCarthyism was started in 1950-1954 carried out by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Artists, writers, and musicians were banned from carrying out work. Many people were blacklisted. The world was feeling threatened, “Many prominent individuals suspected of sympathizing with liberal or humanitarian causes were branded a communist threat, and even accused of espionage” (Biography). Like in Fahrenheit 451, people were falsely accused for no reason and punished. The fire fighters ‘blacklisted’ all people who read books, and therefore burned down their houses. Another comparison between the censorship in history and in the book was the burning of books in Germany by the Nazis. Viewpoints conflicting with the Nazi regime's propaganda were burned or censored. There was a very long list of books illegal to be read. This all started in just 1933. Nazi regime was so powerful one can see it when it says, “ We still face censorship today, just not as extreme. Ray Bradbury used historical context from different parts of history to compile the main theme of censorship in Fahrenheit 451. In the book we see an attempted explanation to why they had censorship when it says, “Bigger the population,the more minorities. Don’t step on the toes of the dog lovers, the cat lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians, second-generation Chinese, Swedes, Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen, people from Oregon or Mexico. The people in this book, this play, this TV serial are not meant to represent any actual painters, cartographers, mechanics anywhere. The bigger you market, Montag, the less you handle controversy, remember that!.. Authors, full of evil thoughts, lock up your typewriters. They did” (Bradbury 22). Captain Beatty, the captain of the fire fighters plays an important

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Soren Schwartz Ms. Kuryllo English 12 AP 22 December 2014 Thesis: Bradbury’s use of literary devices show the cerebral decay of society by contrasting it with famous pieces of literature, myths, and political writings that have been disregarded wi th his society’s admiration of perfunctory writings. Annotated Bibliography Brown, Joseph. " 'As the Constitution Says': Distinguishing Documents in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. "

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In Fahrenheit 451 censorship is showed very differently. Usually firemen would be putting out fires, but in the book they start them. They would be called if someone is caught having books in their house, because having books is banned in their society. The books starts off with the line “It was a pleasure to burn”, stating how happy it makes them to burn books. The banning and burning of books creates a unhappy dystopian society.

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In a future where books are banned and destroyed by the government, Guy Montag, a fireman in charge of burning books, meets a schoolteacher who dares to read and a girl who tells him of a past when people did not live in fear. Fahrenheit 451 was a hard book to understand. Censorship played a big role in this. Fahrenheit 451 doesn’t provide a single, clear explanation of why books are banned in the future. Instead, it suggests that many different factors could combine to create this result.

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Fahrenheit 451, by American author Ray Bradbury, centers around a time in the future where books are evil, and firemen start fires, instead of putting them out. Bradbury’s novel reflects many government’s exertion of power through censorship, experienced around the world today. The whole premise of this book is that books are evil, so all of the citizen’s books are removed, and you are punished if any are found in your possession. Through these fictitious events the realities of punishment from China’s government for those who fail to comply with the censorship laws set forth.

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Have you ever wondered where authors get their inspiration from? Ray Bradbury used some of his own life experiences inside the book of Fahrenheit 451. Such as the cold war and the burning of suspicious books and also his imagination of what the future would hold for society. In the 1950’s the Cold War was happening, Bradbury saw a wide range of possibility for him to create a similar war happening throughout Fahrenheit 451.

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Got Books? The Literary Censorship in Fahrenheit 451 Have you ever been prevented from looking, or reading at something? Was it something that your family, teachers, or even your friends censored from you? Imagine a world where you aren’t able to go to a library and read a book.

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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.

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Although the previous statement is true, Bradbury wrote the novel during the Cold War era, which was the era of McCarthyism. McCarthyism was a strong effort against communism that took place after World War II; McCarthyism gave birth to the Red Scare, which was a widespread fear of the rise of communism. During this time new ideas were introduced to Bradbury, like the censorship of television and the media. Upon looking at “Fahrenheit 451” it seems that living during an era of censorship encouraged Bradbury to write about it, but in a different sense. Instead of focusing on how the media was censoring television, like during the Cold War, he introduces censorship in the form of book

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Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a uniquely shocking and provocative novel about a dystopian society set in a future where reading is outlawed, thinking is considered a sin, technology is at its prime, and human interaction is scarce. Through his main protagonist, Guy Montag, Bradbury brings attention to the dangers of a controlled society, and the problems that can arise from censorship. As a fireman, it is Guy's job to destroy books, and start fires rather than put them out. After meeting a series of unusual characters, a spark is ignited in Montag and he develops a desire for knowledge and a want to protect the books. Bradbury's novel teaches its readers how too much censorship and control can lead to further damage and the repetition of history’s mistakes through the use of symbolism, imagery, and motif.

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Overseas in America, these very same fears were inspiring Bradbury’s writing, as well. Witnessing secondhand the horrors of Adolf Hitler, Bradbury penned Fahrenheit 451, which was published in 1953 following the fall of the Nazi regime. A steadfast bibliophile, Bradbury was horrified by Germany’s book burnings. Thus, while Fahrenheit 451 was written an ocean away from Nineteen Eighty-Four, it builds off of a shared horror towards totalitarianism and reflects the same fears of conformity and censorship that crop up so prolifically in Orwell’s writing.

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Commentary #4. The most important theme of Fahrenheit 451 is restriction of freedom of speech because of the fear to offend another person in the society. There are strict censorship laws in the totalitarian society of Fahrenheit 451. In the novel the job of a fireman is to start a fire and watch the forbidden literature burn, these firemen had never read the books they burn nor were they all allowed to keep one for more than 24 hours.

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In Fahrenheit 451, all books are banned, and knowledge is concealed, and some may ask themselves if we are almost falling off towards that, when considering the following. Usa today states that, “Banned books are not new, but they have gained new relevance in an escalating culture war that puts books centering racism, sexuality and gender identity at risk in public schools and libraries.” Although not all books are banned, many are, for reasons previously mentioned, and while some may argue that this is right and that books talk about sensitive topics, others may argue differently saying that you would need to learn about these things to truly understand where you stand on these, hard-to-talk-on

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The differences and similarities between the book’s society and our modern day society really bulged out at me while I was reading the book ‘Fahrenheit 451’. In Fahrenheit 451, books are banned. And instead of having firemen that put out fire, the firemen start the fire to burn down books and houses. There are many differences and similarities between our modern day society and the the society in the book ‘Fahrenheit 451’. Such as our Government, Technology, and Behavior.

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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.

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510 Words | 3 Pages

Although Fahrenheit 451 shows more of an extremist version of censorship, modern day America has lots of it. Being politically correct is very important in the world today. For example, “merry Christmas” has become “happy holidays” for that reason. In the novel, Beaty talks about censorship and politically correctness and how writers would take almost anything out that sounds even a little offensive. That is a major reason books were banned in Fahrenheit 451.

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