Fahrenheit 451 Censorship Analysis

In the book Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, the idea of banning books is a central theme. No books are allowed in this dystopian society. In America today, various groups of people try to get books banned or censored. When America was formed as a nation, every citizen was given freedoms and rights. One of these freedoms was freedom of speech; however, when a book is censored or banned, the authors freedom of speech is restricted or taken away entirely. Censoring, restricting, or banning books is unconstitutional because it is restricting the authors right to free speech given to them by the constitution, it forces a group of people’s beliefs on others, and does not allow people to choose what they want to read.

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When a group of people cause a book to be censored or banned, they are forcing what they believe is correct, appropriate, or acceptable on other people whose beliefs may be different. If a book is censored or banned because of a group of people, then that group is telling other people what they can and can not read. Also, just because some people do not like a particular book does not mean that they should keep other people from reading it because they do not agree with the topics implied by the author. A final reason it forces beliefs on other people is by getting a book censored or banned, it is telling people that the message the author is trying to portray is immoral or wrong, and people should not be exposed to such ideas. These reasons are important because people can decide for themselves what they believe is right and wrong. The beliefs of others do not need to forced on everyone else. Those in favor of censoring or banning books may …show more content…
They each have gone through different experiences and have formed to become the person they are different from any other person. Therefore, the only person who can decide what they want to read, or wat is against their own personal set of morals is themself. By banning books or censoring books, people can not choose for themselves, limiting their freedom given to them by the government. If a particular person does not approve of a topic, idea or theme in a novel, then they do not have to read it, but trying to have it banned is not allowing others to make that judgement for themselves (Harvey, Linda). Some may say that libraries or publishers are not trustworthy of protecting the youth of today from ideas that they see as “wrong’ or “immoral” (Manning, Erin). Should those readers not be allowed to decide for themselves what they believe is good or bad? For example, the way that today's teens have grown up is completely different than that of their parents or grandparents. These teens see the world differently, than the adults of the world. While it is important to learn from past mistakes, should the older members be allowed to continue to dictate what youth read and ultimately come to believe (Harvey, Linda)? A recent study has shown that adults are more likely to support censoring or banning books while most youth are against it (Rampell, Catherine). Neil Gaiman once said, “ Ideas- written ideas are special. They are the