Censorship: Is It Necessary?
A persuasive essay written by Mark Pierce
Censorship is often used by governments to hide certain things from the public; things that are offensive. These can include (but are not limited to) being insulting to religion, being racist, or being too violent. Despite these reasons, however, censorship doesn’t need to be mandatory to protect the people. In Fahrenheit 451, for instance, the omniscient and reclusive “government” has a strict mandate that, if any are found, books will be incinerated without question. But why do they do this? Why burn books? The answer is, as Faber would say, they “show the pores in the face of life.” It’s an unnecessary rule that strips away people's’ ability to think for themselves.
“A book is a loaded gun in the house next door…Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?” –Ray Bradbury. Our world compared to Fahrenheit 451 is such a stark contrast, In our world, books are cherished above all others. In 451 books are illegal. The Firemen start fires instead of putting them out. But the only similarity between our world and there's is that technology is everywhere, it is controlling and brainwashing.
Imagine yourself 50 years from now, what will you be doing? What do you think the world would be like? In Fahrenheit 451 the future is full of strange things and ideas like burning books and keeping information from society. When I think of society 50 years from now, I imagine a world full of technology and information. When I think of architecture, I imagine immensely tall buildings made almost completely of glass.
The dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 written by author Ray Bradbury in 1953, shows what he speculates the fate of society to be. Fahrenheit 451 takes places in the corrupt United States when people no longer read books and are satisfied only by entertainment. In Fahrenheit 451, the fire has been perceived in many different ways by the main character Guy Montag, once a fireman. Fire in Fahrenheit 451 represents both rebirth and destruction. Mythological creatures, such as the salamander and Phoenix have influenced the change in the perception of fire.
The author Ray Bradbury shows all the faults with society through his book Fahrenheit 451. The premise of Fahrenheit 451 is that all the books within their society are burned, in hopes to not offend anyone, Beatty explains this by saying “Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it” (57). Of course, there were those who decided to read anyway, despite the laws, and had their homes, consequently, burned by the firemen, before being arrested. Although, the government at the time were the ones ordering the burning of the books, “it didn’t come from the government”, it started with society (55). Ultimately, the warning is that all problems with the government start with the society itself. Regrettably, the problems of censorship, happened within his lifetime as well, because the burning of books was not just subjected to paper, “German students from universities...gathered in Berlin to burn books with “unGerman” ideas” (Burning). As a consequence of Hitler inspiring these students to set ablaze those books, it festered its way up in society, until it became law.
The fear of missing out, otherwise known as the fomo disease, prevales in both Fahrenheit 451 and today’s society. Although written nearly 60 years ago, many ideas parallel current events. Some of the ways Fahrenheit mimics current events today include, but are not limited to; electronics taking the place of books, both communities stand heavily influenced by the media, and firemen and ISIS aren’t aware of the crimes they commit. For a big chunk of the world, electronics have become a necessity to life.
I think that the books are related to Fahrenheit 451because of there freedom, I think that birds have a degree of freedom. Books do the same thing for us by reading books it gives us the knowledge we need to be free in this world. When you gain knowledge you are able to do what you wish in the world, that could be getting a nice job or simply entering a debate and know what your talking about. Though I don’t read much I do believe these things to be true.
Hayden Bratanata 8th period Ms. Huynh ELA 8H Two Hopes The Diary of Anne Frank has the idea of the power of hope that manifests itself better than most of the other books and is definitely better than Fahrenheit 451. The Diary of Anne Frank is about a young girl who has to hide in a secret annex to escape from the Nazis, and it shows all of the hardships and how they lived in the secret annex. Fahrenheit 451 depicts a dystopian world where books are banned and Montag tries to bring them back. Anne Frank creates a great theme of the power of hope that is greater than Fahrenheit 451 because Anne Frank.
2,571 books have been caught by censorship in 2022. Does censorship have a big impact on society? Ray Bradbury uses the idea of censorship in his book, “Farhenheit 451” by using the banning and burning of books to show how society is in a future time period. Bradbury shows the negative impacts of censorship throughout the events of the story. Censorship has been used in the real world with many books.
“Faith is the heroism of the intellect” (Charles Henry Parkhurst). In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist, Montag, is an intellect. In the society he lives in, books are illegal. The government feels threatened by people with the knowledge that books promote. Montag has the infamous job of a fireman, an odd twist on our society’s fireman. Fireman in this time start fires rather than stop them and the fuel for the fires are books. The government attempts to suppress thinkers; people who question orders given, people who question things that most just ignore. Montag’s job easily disguises his secret plots; Montag plans on planting books in fellow fireman’s houses in attempt to bring down this dystopian government. The
Closing libraries in public schools is just like reading a book without absorbing the information, because both are pointless and do not make any absolute sense at all. Ray Bradbury’s masterpiece dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, represents the epitome of the literary world, in which its context, techniques, plot and themes are already enough to show why the closure of libraries is such a foolish and ludicrous decision. The protagonist, Guy Montag, lives in a society where books are outlawed, and his sole duty is to burn them. Out of curiosity, he steals The Bible, in which he comes to terms with how meaningless and dull his life is upon reading it. He leaves the city after becoming a fugitive and aims to rebuild the then war-torn metropolis, by using the knowledge he had acquired from books.
Dystopian Traits Dystopian novels are novels that portray the possible future. Authors write dystopian novels to warn others of the future if we keep proceeding the way we are. Bradbury wrote a collection of dystopian novels, like Fahrenheit 451. Fahrenheit 451 is a prime example of a dystopian novel because individuality in the novel is bad, concepts are idolized, and the citizens live in a dehumanized state.
The right to privacy acts as a common controversial topic in the world today. The American government is constantly battling between its limits as well as responsibilities to protect its citizens. Outside of America, however, privacy is a right that not all other countries grant their citizens. In the novels Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and 1984 by George Orwell, the right to privacy is a recurring theme provoked by the role of technology in relation to governmental restriction and responsibility, as well as the lack of personal freedoms in these worlds.
In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, we can see a lot of things wrong with the society, things that most people think could happen to us, but is it really that unrealistic? Ray Bradbury didn't think so when he wrote it because he was writing about his own time period, shortly after WWII, but the themes he wrote about are still present today. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury criticizes illusion of happiness, oppression, and loss of self, not only his fictitious society, but our society in real life, too.
When Bradbury wrote, “fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over,” he meant that the fictional stories that authors write—the made up characters, plot, setting—will convey a theme, a message, that helps the reader realize the true things about their society or surroundings. Many times, a book may have unrealistic plots and settings, however it’ll still convey a theme that’s applicable to real life and to the reader, and help guide the reader to many revelations about real life—the ‘truth’ in our society and lives. I agree with this idea because although many books are written for entertainment purposes, and are composed of unrealistic plots and events, they often send a message to the reader, and teach them about life lessons.
Now at first glance anyone may look at the book and wonder what does Fahrenheit 451 mean? Well Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper catches on fire. This is our first glimpse into Ray Bradbury’s dystopian world in Fahrenheit 451. So, this book was originally published in 1953 during World War II and starting the Cold War, which plays a huge role in what this book symbolizes. The author of Fahrenheit 451 is Ray Bradbury.