“ We stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought” (Bradbury 67). Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a novel set in a dystopian future where books are illegal and firemen have the job of starting fires, not stopping them. Book burning is a common power-play throughout history that leaders use to censor, oppress, and conform their citizens to certain beliefs. There are many similarities between Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and book burning throughout history. One of the most well-known instances of book burning happened during World War II in Nazi Germany.” On May 10, 1933, university students burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of ‘un-German’ books, presaging an era of state censorship and control of culture” (Holocaust Encyclopedia 4). The …show more content…
The main similarity between the two is the lack of books in schools to control the future generations. In Fahrenheit 451, students do not learn with books and as Clarisse demonstrates, the only thing she knows about real world problems like history and nature is told to her by her parents. In recent times, those who ban books believe they are protecting future generations, however, they are doing more harm than good. Any limit on information and knowledge to a young adult will only hinder them just as Clarisse was in the book.
In conclusion, the themes and ideas presented in Fahrenheit 451 have been directly inspired by real world events and still hold true to this day. Book burning is an idea that has been going on for thousands of years and does not seem to be slowing down. However, we can change as a society and Fahrenheit 451 is a perfect example of all the negative consequences that book burning can have and how we can avoid repeating history. “As long as there have been books, people have burned them- but over the years, the motivation has changed” (Boissoneault