Censorship In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury is the author of the book Fahrenheit 451, and this book is set in a futuristic American city. The narrator and main character of the novel is Guy Montag. He is a fireman, but instead of extinguishing fires he helps start them. Fireman in this futuristic society start fires to destroy all of the books in the world. Books are burned, because they are thought to create too much controversy within the society. The encounter with a seventeen-year-old girl, Clarisse McClellan and the burning of an old woman along with her books causes Montag to question the purpose of burning books. Although, Montag had always been interested in books, because he had a secret collection of books that he had stolen. One day when Montag did not come home
Censorship is the suppression of certain words, images, and ideas in order to control information available to people. There are multiple reasons why books are banned in this society, and an important fact is there was not a declaration of censorship to begin with. Beatty tells Montag, “Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God” (53). Books became less important as television, radio, fast cars, loud music, and advertisements became the main part of people’s daily lives. Beatty also explains that all people must be made equal so that no one knows more than anyone else. The last factor that led to censorship was the fact that certain types of literature offended the “minority” groups. In his speech, Beatty also says, “ Don’t step on the toes of the dog-lovers, the cat lovers, doctors, lawyers…”(52). This means that instead of arguing over who or what is right, it is better to destroy everything. The last comment Beatty makes is “Fire is bright and fire is clean” (55). This is important because instead of living in a world were people could formulate there own ideas, it was decided that censorship was the only
The French meaning of Guy is guide. This is fitting to Guy’s personality, because he breaks away from his societies conformity. He begins to read books and form his own opinions. Guy also becomes a leader; he asks Faber to help him reestablish the important of books in society, which implies Guy wants to be a leader. Faber is unable to implement his plans, because he ends up having to flee. At the end of the book he may have become leader in rebuilding the society, but that is left uncertain. Another meaning of the name Guy is warrior. This is a characteristic of Guy, because he fights for what he believes in throughout the entire book. Even when Beatty explains to Guy why books are bad, Guy stays true to his beliefs and is not persuaded by