Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 forces us to envision a world that is so structured and censored that firemen exist not to fight fires, but to burn books. It’s a horrific account of what could happen, in an all too close future, when society carries “political correctness” to an extreme. Much of Fahrenheit 451 is devoted to depicting a future United States society bombarded with messages and imagery by an omnipresent mass media. In schools, kids are taught censored and watered-down versions of reality in order to cover up past mistakes. Students are taught this way so they don’t have any depressing thoughts, feelings or a want to rebel against the government in order to give the people a powerful platform. Throughout the novel, Bradbury …show more content…
Bradbury’s use of Christian imagery places emphasis on religion as an important factor that contributes to society’s happiness. In a society where bibles are burned, Bradbury demonstrates the danger of not having any religion to guide one's actions resulting in the moral decay and extreme violence of youth. People see Christ as one of them, not a holy person; the government has managed to censor and eliminate anything and everything more powerful than them. After Guy Montag became a fugitive, the government let Montag escape and instead killed a random man to let society know that they are always right and that they will never allow anyone get away with nonconformity. The fact that the government also has the power to turn every channel to the police chase indicates that the state controls the media. The laws and punishments used in this society are very totalitarian. For example, the threat of having one’s home and library burnt mirrors the use of violent police tactics used in totalitarian states. The government is not allowing people to simply be a pedestrian, because if they are not distracted by either driving fast or watching the parlor walls, they might have their own thoughts, which could lead to the government not having complete