Censorship in Fahrenheit 451

Censorship in Fahrenheit 451

In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the people live in a society full of censorship.

Montag, the main character of the story, is inspired by a young girl to question law

around him and begins to have doubts about what good they serve. In Fahrenheit 451,

censorship in the world consists of book burning, manipulative parlor families, and the

intolerance of those who attempt to be an individual.

Book burning in the story is done by firemen to supposedly prevent society

from unhappy emotions and unjust thoughts. Any person who was perceived or proved

to possess any sort of reading material was reported to firemen using alarms, which were

sent to the fire station. On duty firemen then immediately went to the home of the

lawbreaker and burnt the books discovered. Books would be covered in kerosene and

torched with a flame-thrower. Houses were made fireproof in order for the firemen to

burn the books inside the house without causing too much destruction. Immediately after

the books are burned, the offender is arrested and taken to prison. Although book burning

was the most abrupt and outlandish form of censorship, people experienced mind

censorship in their homes every day.

Parlor walls were walls in a room used for watching television and specially

designed “interactive” programs, designed to provide people with pleasure. Shows

written for the soul purpose to please people in their parlors were watched on the walls.

A script would be written with the home viewer’s part included, but would be left out

during the actual recording of the program while the actors paused to give the viewer

time to recite the part at home. Before the show would air on television, copies of the

script would be sent to the people who requested them. Mildred, Montag’s wife, along

with many other people, began to depend on these programs, as if they were addicted to

them. Viewers went as far as calling the characters in these shows their “family”.

Broadcasters used these shows in attempt to control the thoughts