The Impact Of Propaganda In Fahrenheit 451

In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the author creates a picture of a society that resembles our present-day society in a variety of ways. Although a society in which government has total control over its citizens seems to be a little extreme, there are definitely clues that can be seen today that suggest that we are headed in the same direction. Some of the resemblances between the society in Fahrenheit 451 and our society today are the governments’ hypocrisy, the gullibility of the citizens who fully support the government, and the fact that books are becoming rather extinct due to advances in modern technology.

The Persistent Propagation of Pernicious Propaganda Everyone is happy. Why shouldn’t they be? There is enough to eat, enough walls with family in them to keep everyone occupied, enough sports for others, and cars speeding to a hundred miles an hour for those who are adventurous.

The narrator introduces the reader to the world of Fahrenheit through a simple phrase of propaganda: It is a pleasure to burn. The narrator is referring to the actions of firemen ironically burning books in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury presents a futuristic society where books are illegal and firemen burn them with kerosene and flame throwers. They do this in order to eliminate knowledge and to discourage individual thought. The society seeks to maintain control of its population through mind numbing activities and predictable daily schedules.

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury. The protagonist is a firefighter, Montag that burns books instead of fighting fires. Eventually, he discovers that the books are more important than they seem. Propaganda is a very powerful weapon when used in Fahrenheit 451 and the real world. Propaganda’s uses include the US, Nazi Germany and the government in Fahrenheit 451. Upon further inspection these examples go to show how propaganda can be beneficial to governments because it allows the government to do what it wants with no opposition from society.

Books were invented many years ago and have a big impact on our society we live in today. Many religions follow the text from books and used it today as a guide in the way they live. Imagine every single book and research topic were to be abolished and you had no knowledge of William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy, and the holy bible. All you know is what you're told by the government. Ray Bradbury's establish a profound system in which people are not allowed to read books to people to question the world around them and think for themselves. Montag is a proud fireman who obtains pleasure from burning books, but he slowly starts to question the reason why he does it.

Everyone has their own individual way thinking, and embrace of other’s opinion. The books are shown below are all pessimistic views of how future societies have been completely controlled by their governments so they can equalize their communities.

“We stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought. We have our fingers on a dike. Hold steady. Don’t let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world. We depend on you. I don’t think you realize how important you are, we are, to our happy world as it stands now.” (Bradbury 59). This quote illustrates, how the societies government is making people think that books and theories are what makes the society unhappy. This is what makes the people that start theories and read books separate from their society and hide from the government and their cruel punishments towards the book readers. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, a man named Guy Montag, goes on a journey to find out about the books that are hidden from his society. Along the way, Guy starts to notices that he is different from the others who watch the “parlor walls”. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the author, Ray Bradbury teaches the readers the theme of censorship to show how the protagonist, Guy Montag, changes as a result of the conflict in his dystopian society.

    Ray Bradbury criticizes the censorship of the early 1950's by displaying these same themes in a futuristic dystopia novel called Fahrenheit 451. In the early 1950's Ray Bradbury writes this novel as an extended version of "The Fireman", a short story which first appears in Galaxy magazine. He tries to show the readers how terrible censorship and mindless conformity is by writing about this in his novel.

This quotation refers to the philosophy of their society. It is socially criticized because it gave everybody access to the same information and therefore not allowing anyone to think freely. In their society, intelligence means nothing. Referring to the first quotation, if they are told to know something, then they will not ask questions, and therefore everyone will be equal in their knowledge. In this civilization, one is not allowed to be intellect because someone who is stronger in that area has more to offer, like the 'bright boy ', who is hated by others who are not as strong. The society wants children to attend school earlier, "we 've lowered the kindergarten age year after year until now we 're almost snatching them from the cradle." (Ray Bradbury, 1953, p.60) This is an example of social criticism because the younger the children are attending

The use of censorship to examine and eliminate elements in media that are found to be unorthodox or radical has been prevalent in society for centuries. Through censorship, ideas found to be objectionable or offensive are repressed. In his prophetic novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury denotes the common practice of government censorship of books as a suppressive and marginalizing concept for humans because it strips them of the realities, truths, and meaning behind books and deprives them the freedom to deliberate and act on them. The protagonist, Guy Montag lives in a futuristic, American society and is a ‘firemen’; a group of men that deflect the old conventional purpose of stopping fires, to creating

Ray Bradbury’s writings were influenced by the current and past events happening in a war stricken society. Bradbury draws direct correlation between Hitler’s acts in World War II (WWII) and the acts of the “firemen” in Fahrenheit 451. This leads to the discussion of the censorship of the public in Fahrenheit 451, how this compares to the censorship enforced by Hitler in WWII, and how censorship affects the public of any society. Ray Bradbury was successful in illustrating the theme of censorship within a society under a totalitarian government using repetition, symbolism, and bildungsroman in Fahrenheit 451.

In North Korea, a totalitarian or dictatorial government prevails, where one “Supreme Leader” is revered and even worshipped. This government features a monolithic system, which plays “a crucial role in enabling the continuing monopoly of power by a sole leader” (Park 5-6). All components of life and society thus become fully oriented toward the goals of the head of state, Kim Jong-un, and the Kim dynasty. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the government-headed Korean Central News Agency heavily commands the “dissemination of information, and all papers are strictly censored” (Lee et al.). This control over the movement of ideas in the population not only fosters the spread of government ideology but also prompts citizens to remain ignorant regarding certain issues, such as government actions

The society in Ray Bradbury's, Fahrenheit 451 is almost completely made up of the falsehood that everyone is “happy”. Up until the main character Montag, meets Clarisse, he believes that he is “happy.” Then he is asked a simple question…“Are you happy?” (Bradbury 10). This was the most significant turning point for Montag and is what caused him stop and think about what his life had really become. The propaganda throughout the book plays a substantial role in people's lives, but not in a positive way. The government brainwashes them to not think or read, and encourages them to have a hatred for whoever breaks the law. In Fahrenheit 451, propaganda plays a dangerous role in influencing the decisions made by the characters.

Ray Bradbury wrote his novel, Fahrenheit 451, during the Cold War. Although he initially wanted to warn people about the danger that technology can greatly affect a society and community for the worst, Bradbury 's novel was interpreted as commentary for censorship at the time he was writing the novel. His use of many examples of reality was thought to emphasize this point. Even so, the main character of the novel is an example of a drastic dynamic character. A dynamic character usually undergoes a transformation in relation to events of the plot. Ray Bradbury’s dynamic character in Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag, undergoes a transformation throughout the novel that is influenced by his interactions with other characters and his feelings of separation from society as he explores himself through reflection in books.

1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are both novels telling us of a possible scenario for the development of the world with no place for a sense of personal identity. This world is filled with dystopia, decadence, crisis of morality, loneliness. The main characters in both books are men with their own fears, suspicions and temptations. Each of them has a woman who stimulate their conflict of interest. Their professional duties oblige them to support ruling elites and fight against human rights. While Guy Montag, after a conversation with Clarisse, suddenly feels the need for spirituality, and finds its expression in books, Winston is so burdened by the pressure of the system, so constrained that the formula 2 + 2 = 4 becomes a desired but inaccessible dream and a certain symbol of freedom.