Fahrenheit 451
Written by Ray Bradbury first in 1950 as a short story for a science fiction magazine and published as a book in 1953, Fahrenheit 451 is a readable, teachable novel that creates discussion over mass culture and the dangers that lie there. Set five centuries from now, Fahrenheit 451 is about an anti-intellectual society where books are burned in order to eliminate controversy. In this world, fireman play a reverse role than today. Instead of putting out fires, they are in charge of burning the books that are illegally accessed and hoarded by people. In Fahrenheit 451, the main topics discussed by Bradbury are conformity, censorship, and the overuse of technology.
Firstly, the novel creates discussion over mass culture and the dangers that lie …show more content…
The setting of Fahrenheit 451 is based in a futuristic society in America. In this society, books and reading are illegal. Through a conversation between Montag and Beatty, the fire chief, Bradbury gives some backstory that explains why books have been banned in this society. Different people and groups started getting upset because certain books offended them (Benson). In the novel, the fireman feel that culture needs to be universally accessible, inoffensive, and non threatening. They believe that books hold contradictory values and human behavior contrary to that of the time period. (Wolfe). Beatty says, “Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it” (Bradbury 54). As a result of this, authors started to censor themselves and all books started becoming the same. Rather than let conflict occur, society deemed it better to just impose government based censorship and burn all books in order to ensure nobody gets access to them and gets offended by (Benson). Also, technology also has a huge part of the censorship in the novel. People in the society have no interest in reading. Instead, they prefer entertainment in the form of television and radio. This results in an excess of stimulation that prohibits people from concentrating on one thing (Benson). This is good for the society because they do not want the people to think for themselves, so they simplify, and almost do away with, education and replace it with mass entertainment. People believe what is said on the television. The television tells them what to thing so quickly that the people's minds dont have time to think about it, they just believe it (McGiveron #). This gives way for the government to chose what people are exposed
Firstly, the novel creates discussion over mass culture and the dangers that lie …show more content…
The setting of Fahrenheit 451 is based in a futuristic society in America. In this society, books and reading are illegal. Through a conversation between Montag and Beatty, the fire chief, Bradbury gives some backstory that explains why books have been banned in this society. Different people and groups started getting upset because certain books offended them (Benson). In the novel, the fireman feel that culture needs to be universally accessible, inoffensive, and non threatening. They believe that books hold contradictory values and human behavior contrary to that of the time period. (Wolfe). Beatty says, “Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it” (Bradbury 54). As a result of this, authors started to censor themselves and all books started becoming the same. Rather than let conflict occur, society deemed it better to just impose government based censorship and burn all books in order to ensure nobody gets access to them and gets offended by (Benson). Also, technology also has a huge part of the censorship in the novel. People in the society have no interest in reading. Instead, they prefer entertainment in the form of television and radio. This results in an excess of stimulation that prohibits people from concentrating on one thing (Benson). This is good for the society because they do not want the people to think for themselves, so they simplify, and almost do away with, education and replace it with mass entertainment. People believe what is said on the television. The television tells them what to thing so quickly that the people's minds dont have time to think about it, they just believe it (McGiveron #). This gives way for the government to chose what people are exposed