Fahrenheit 451 Setting Analysis

The setting in Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a very controlled and powerful atmosphere. The burning of books is a prime example of the control the government has on society. Not only does the society lack knowledge, they live in an up roaring city where your own neighbors will turn against you in a second. The controlled setting reinforces the story’s central idea that a culture can be stymied when government decides to eliminate freedom of expression and original thought. This theme is further reinforced by the cultural/historical/biographic influences of the time this book was written, specifically: the beginning of the Civil Rights movement and the McCarthy trials and communism. In December of 1955, the Civil Rights Movement was beginning when a woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white male. The government showed an enormous agreement with the white population rather than the black. In an interview with Rosa Parks, she states, “…he wanted to know if I was going to stand up, and I told him I was not. And he told me he would have me arrested. And I told him he may do that. And of course, he did” (Parks). The severity of Parks’
Ask yourself, What do we want in this country, above all? People want to be happy, isn’t that right? Haven’t you heard it all your life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren’t they? Don’t we keep them moving, don’t we give them fun? That’s all we live for, isn’t it? For pleasure, for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these (Bradbury, p.56).
This shows the different views on happiness in the society. Burning books eliminates people from learning and experiencing new ideas. However, Beatty believes that this makes people happy and by limiting society’s freedom it will eliminate controversy as well as one person being inferior over the