Censorship in Fahrenheit 451

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Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury

One of the main themes of the novel Fahrenheit 451 is censorship. Censorship is n: the action of a censor esp. in stopping the transmission or publication of matter considered objectionable. That is, of course, according to the guys over at Merriam-Webster.

The theme of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 can be seen from several different viewpoints. Bradbury's novel primarily gives an anti-censorship message. Bradbury understood censorship to be a natural projection of an extremely tolerant society. The society envisioned by Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 is often compared to Huxley's Brave New World, according to the researchers at novelguide.com. Though both works certainly have an anti-government theme, that is not the core idea of Bradbury's novel.

More importantly, Fahrenheit 451 has an anti-apathy, anti-dependence, and anti-television message. People in this novel are afraid of themselves. They fear the thought of knowing, which leads them to depend on others to think for them. Since they are not thinking for themselves, they need something to occupy their time. This is where television comes in. Television, in turn, leads to whole host of problems: violence, depression, and even suicide.

In Fahrenheit 451, owning and reading books is illegal. The members of this society focus only on entertainment, immediate gratification, and speeding through life. If books are found by the firemen, the books are burned and their owner is arrested. If the owner refuses to abandon the books, he or she often dies, burning along with them. People with interests outside of technology and entertainment, such as Clarisse, are viewed as strange, and possible threats.

Guy Montag lived in a futuristic...

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...t the most important reason leading to censorship is the opposition of special-interest groups and "minorities" to the things in books that offend them. Bradbury is extremely careful to refrain from referring exclusively to racial minorities. Beatty mentions dog lovers and cat lovers, but that is about as specific as the book is on identifying minorities. The reader can only try to conclude which special-interest groups he actually has in mind.

As the Afterword to Fahrenheit 451 demonstrates, Bradbury is extremely sensitive to any attempts to restrict his free speech. For example, he objects strongly to the letters he has received that suggest that he revise his treatment of female and/or black characters. He sees such interventions as more or less hostile and intolerant. In other words, he sees such interventions as the first step on the road to book burning.

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