Theme Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

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Ryan Szabo Ms. Colman English 11 Prep 20 April 2013 Censorship in “Fahrenheit 451” Censorship is the suppression of images, words, or ideas that offend a person or group. This happens when people succeed in imposing their moral or political values on others ("What is Censorship?"). Censorship includes a wide variety of things. It extends to books, theatrical works and paintings, but also to posters, television, music videos and comic books. It is open to whatever human creativity can come up with ("What Is Censorship?"). Guy Montag is a firefighter who lives in a lonely, isolated society where books have been outlawed by a government fearing an independent-thinking public. It is the duty of firefighters to burn any books on sight or…show more content…
He changes sides when he discovers meaning in books he had not seen before. The book portrays the censorship that Guy once stood for, however it eventually all changes. Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books in a futuristic American city. In Montag’s world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in this society do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Fahrenheit 451 is located in and around a city in America (unspecified). The time is in the twenty-fourth century, two atomic wars had taken place (Bradbury). The story is told from a third person point of view, which follows Montag for a while. This point of view is limited however, as you do not know everything. The protagonist is Guy Montag, who suddenly realizes the emptiness of his life and starts to search for meaning in the books he is supposed to be burning. Captain Beatty is the protagonist, and a complex character, full of contradictions. He is a book burner with a vast knowledge of literature, someone who clearly cared passionately about books at some point…show more content…
This next quote helps the reader understand the reality of the novel. "We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind." (Bradbury) Bradbury is making it obvious that the firemen burn books for the equality of people. Just like in the novel, the Nazi's burned books so that all of the Germans would follow Hitler and the Nazi party. For example: On that night more than 25,000 books were burned. Some were works of Jewish writers, including Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud ("Nazi Propaganda and

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