Fahrenheit 451 Theme Analysis

895 Words2 Pages

Most people have some understanding of obedience; however, many can fail to see the purpose and the effect of it in their own lives and in our world. Censorship is one of the major themes in Fahrenheit 451, and its impact is shown through obedience in appearance, behavior and thought. This helps us to draw similar relationships between Ray Bradbury‘s novel and our current world.

The connection between appearance and “social acceptance” is already in our lives today. In order to achieve “societal normal” we wish to look and act like our friends, and celebrities we see daily. As a result, censorship in appearance has become a common example of “obedience” today. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag realizes that a major part of being socially accepted …show more content…

In the novel, the fire captain Beatty strongly believes that every person must think alike; for conflict and unhappiness only arise when differences are perpetuated. There may be some truth to Beatty’s claim that conflicting theory and thought creates unhappiness and discomfort within a society (again when Beatty was saying the uselessness of books). One example of this is the strong pressure from our culture and some factions of government to be “politically correct”. As a somewhat ordinary remedy for the cruel intolerance of minorities, our society has created a system of thought in which we must exhibit ultimate acceptance of persecuted groups. The pressure to be politically correct can be so strong that any opinion that does not suggest an underlying discrimination but which is conveyed to the public in a “politically incorrect” manner is considered socially unacceptable. Those who communicate their non-negotiable thoughts may be viewed as immoral and dishonest. Through the strong pressure to be “politically correct” we see that conformity of thought remains in our society and parallels Bradbury’s portrayal of the theme in Fahrenheit

Show More
Related

  • Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book Fahrenheit 451 the theme is a society/world that revolves around being basically brain washed or programmed because of the lack of people not thinking for themselves concerning the loss of knowledge, and imagination from books that don't exist to them. In such stories as the Kurt Vonnegut's "You have insulted me letter" also involving censorship to better society from vulgarity and from certain aspects of life that could be seen as disruptive to day to day society which leads to censorship of language and books. Both stories deal with censorship and by that society is destructed in a certain way by the loss of knowledge from books.

    Read More

  • Literary Devices In Fahrenheit 451

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1950’s Ray Bradbury wrote the novel Fahrenheit 451 which pointed out his views on censorship, and those views are still effectively received today. His story shows a society obsessed with technology, which is not all that different to present day’s society. His choice to include a variety of literary techniques to help the reader grasp the novels true meanings.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Analysis

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Federalist 10 James Madison argued that while factions are inevitable, they might have interests adverse to the rights of other citizens. Madison’s solution was the implementation of a Democratic form of government. He felt that majority rule would not eliminate factions, but it would not allow them to be as powerful as they were. With majority rule this would force all parties affiliate and all social classes from the rich white to the poor minorities to work together and for everyone’s opinion and views to be heard.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Analysis

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Fahrenheit 451 Censorship plays a big role in the story, Censorship is the act of changing or suppressing speech or writing that is considered subversive of the common good.... ... middle of paper ... ... Before this Montag never questioned the way he lives, he was blinded by all the distractions.

    Read More

  • The Paradox Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    Often, dystopian novels are written by an author to convey a world that doesn’t exist, but criticizes aspects of the present that could lead to this future. Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in 1951 but discusses issues that have only increased over time. The encompassing issue that leads to the dystopic nature of this novel is censorship of books. The government creates a world in which it is illegal to have any books. Firemen are enforcers of this law by being the ones to burn the books and burn the buildings where the books were found. By censoring the knowledge found in books, the government attempts to rid the society of corruption caused by “the lies” books are filled with in hopes the people will never question. In Fahrenheit 451, censorship is a paradox.

    Read More

  • Theme Analysis of Fahrenheit 451

    432 Words  | 1 Pages

    The theme of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 can be viewed from several different angles.  First and foremost, Bradbury's novel gives an anti-censorship message.  Bradbury understood censorship to be a natural outcropping of an overly tolerant society.  Once one group objects to something someone has written, that book is modified and censorship begins. Soon, another minority group objects to something else in the book, and it is again edited until eventually the book is banned altogether.  In Bradbury's novel, society has evolved to such an extreme that all literature is illegal to possess.  No longer can books be read, not only because they might offend someone, but because books raise questions that often lead to revolutions and even anarchy.  The intellectual thinking that arises from reading books can often be dangerous, and the government doesn't want to put up with this danger.  Yet this philosophy, according to Bradbury, completely ignores the benefits of knowledge.  Yes, knowledge can cause disharmony, but in many ways, knowledge of the past, which is recorded in books, can prevent man from making similar mistakes in the present and future.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, irony is used to convey information and it contributes to the overall theme of the novel. Written during the era of McCarthyism, Fahrenheit 451 is about a society where books are illegal. This society believes that being intellectual is bad, and that a lot of things that are easily accessible today should be censored. The overall message of the book is that censorship is not beneficial to society, and that it could cause great harm to one’s intelligence and social abilities. An analysis of irony in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury shows that this literary technique is effective in contributing to the overall theme of the novel because it gives more than one perspective on how censorship can negatively affect a society.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Essay

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fahrenheit 451’s Relevance to Today Fahrenheit 451’s relevance to today can be very detailed and prophetic when we take a deep look into our American society. Although we are not living in a communist setting with extreme war waging on, we have gained technologies similar to the ones Bradbury spoke of in Fahrenheit 451 and a stubborn civilization that holds an absence of the little things we should enjoy. Bradbury sees the future of America as a dystopia, yet we still hold problematic issues without the title of disaster, as it is well hidden under our democracy today. Fahrenheit 451 is much like our world today, which includes television, the loss of free speech, and the loss of the education and use of books. Patai explains that Bradbury saw that people would soon be controlled by the television and saw it as the creators chance to “replace lived experience” (Patai 2).

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Censorship

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ray Bradbury displays the notion of self censorship throughout the book. He accomplished this by using examples such as books and false happiness. He uses these concepts to help the reader understand that all the little problems are a result of self censorship. Overall the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury suggests that the main theme of the story is self censorship. Ray Bradbury's concept of self censorship in very relevant in today’s society. People often ignore the bad things in life, hoping they will find happiness in ignorance. They censor themselves from what could potentially ruin the fake happiness they have constructed. While Bradbury uses self censorship in an extreme manner, his ideas are still relevant to today’s

    Read More

  • 198451: The Year of the Salamander

    1876 Words  | 4 Pages

    When comparing the masterpieces of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 the astute reader is immediately able to see a minimum of two recurring themes in both of them. “Orwell had produced an imaginative treatise of totalitarianism, cutting across all ideologies, warning of the threat to humanity should any government, of whatever political complexion, assume absolute power” (Nineteen Eighty-Four 12). Meanwhile Bradbury described the horrors of a society that became a totalitarian regime through the Firemen who attempted to control the ability of thought. Both of these structures depended on limiting the thought of the citizens either through Newspeak in which the undesirable thoughts could not be expressed or by destroying access to all previous insight forcing people to rely only on their own insights while at the same time discouraging them from having any. Captain Beatty tells Montag of society’s ideal, “We must all be alike. Not everyone is born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal” (Bradbury 58). Bradbury guarded against the burning of the collective knowledge of man by pointing out the reasoning through Beatty, “With school turning out more runners, jumpers, racers, tinkerers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners, critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word ‘intellectual,’ of course, became the swear word it deserved to be. You always dread the unfamiliar.... Breach man’s mind. Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?” (58).

    Read More

  • Freedom Of Speech In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    e a world where books were banned and all words were censored. Freedom of speech has always been considered to be the most fundamental of the human rights. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury emphasizes the importance of freedom of speech by giving readers a glimpse of how the world would be if written works were prohibited. The novel is considered to be a classic because it can usually be linked to society. The novel’s relevance is connected to its themes and its overall message. The themes of loneliness, alienation, conformity, and paranoia play a crucial role in the novel by showing how censorship can transform society negatively.

    Read More

  • Comparing Fahrenheit 451 And The Lottery

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 leads from an average beginning by introducing a new world for readers to become enveloped in, followed by the protagonist’s descent into not conforming to society’s rules, then the story spirals out of control and leaves readers speechless by the actions taken by the main character and the government of this society. This structure reinforces the author’s main point of how knowledge is a powerful entity that would force anyone to break censorship on a society.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Critical Analysis

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    The North Korean government is known as authoritarian socialist; one-man dictatorship. North Korea could be considered a start of a dystopia. Dystopia is a community or society where people are unhappy and usually not treated fairly. This relates how Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 shows the readers how a lost of connections with people and think for themselves can lead to a corrupt and violent society known as a dystopia.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 essay

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    Are you really happy? Or are you sad about something? Sad about life or money, or your job? Any of these things you can be sad of. Most likely you feel discontentment a few times a day and you still call yourself happy. These are the questions that Guy Montag asks himself in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In this book people are thinking they are happy with their lives. This is only because life is going so fast that they think they are but really there is things to be sad about. Montag has finally met Clarisse, the one person in his society that stops to smell the roses still. She is the one that gets him thinking about how his life really is sad and he was just moving too fast to see it. He realizes that he is sad about pretty much everything in his life and that the government tries to trick the people by listening to the parlor and the seashells. This is just to distract people from actual emotions. People are always in a hurry. They have 200 foot billboards for people driving because they are driving so fast that they need more time to see the advertisement. Now I am going to show you who are happy and not happy in the book and how our society today is also unhappy.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Banned

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine a world of uniformity. All people look the same, act the same, and love the same things. There are no original thoughts and no opposing viewpoints. This sort of world is not far from reality. Uniformity in modern day society is caused by the banning of books. The novel "Fahrenheit 451" illustrates a future in which the banning of books has risen to the extent that no books are allowed. The novel follows the social and moral implications of an over censored society. Even though the plot may seem far-fetched, themes from this book are still relevant today. Although some people believe that banning a book is necessary to defend their religion, the negative effects caused by censorship and the redaction of individual thought are reasons why books such as "Fahrenheit 451" should not be banned.

    Read More

More about Fahrenheit 451 Theme Analysis

Open Document