Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

Whenever children enter a room, conversations cease: The children must never know the topic of discussion. Early in life, it is established that certain people must be sheltered from certain information. Censoring begins at a young age, and never completely goes away. Blocking information, glazing over serious topics, and protecting children from all uneasiness starts an unbreakable chain of censorship as the next generation becomes less informed and less aware.
Books, they promote thought and spark conversations. A book is a portal to a new world, full of new ideas and adventures awaiting a unsuspecting reader. However, one must beware of their aversive powers: “What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up, and then they turn
A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man's mind. Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?” (Bradbury 56). The power-hungry fear of a fireman in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 parallels the protective fear of controlling parents. Books recognized as classics and essential to a high school education are being challenged by parents and administrators for being inappropriate for school aged children. Beloved, by Toni Morrison, is a meaningful book that explores the horrors slavery and its everlasting effects. This book has been challenged by parents, and in some cases taken out of the curriculum, because of its violence, profane language, and is depiction of the “inappropriate topics of bestiality, racism, and sex” (“Banned. . .”). However, Morrison crafted the haunting book to recreate the feeling of those that had endured slavery, attempting to provide insight into an unimaginable, horrific existence. Children must be exposed to this because it is their past; as Morrison explains in the novel, the past cannot be ignored and needs to be understood and appreciated, no matter how harrowing it may be to relive. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World has also received wide criticism for its presence in the education system. In Brave New World, Huxley illustrates a society where all pain has been removed, and people numb their feelings with the drug soma. In removing pain, emotion is also taken out; a life without
“Efforts to enforce a new state statute against the teaching of evolution in public schools had precipitated the arrest of Dayton educator John T. Scopes” (Pierce). Arresting a teacher for doing his job exposes the negative consequences of over-censorship. Not only was Scopes unfairly prosecuted, the students in all schools were robbed of an education. Learning about evolution could have broadened their horizons and exposed them to new ways of thinking. Instead, because society at the time feared evolution was a “threat not only to the belief in God but to the very structure of a Christian society,” their worlds were closed off (Pierce). Even after the closing of this trial, school censorship endures. Recently, the principal of Fauquier High School pulled an article from the school newspaper because a story on a new drug was “too mature” for the students (Balingit). This article, however, was intended to inform students about the new drug and describes the risks of it. The author of the article, senior SaraRose Martin explains, “I don’t think my article makes it sound good” when describing students who suffered from injuries ranging from “cracked skulls to cracked teeth” after participating in the new drug use technique (Balingit). In taking this article out of circulation, the principal took away a chance for children to be exposed to the dangers of this drug and the possibility to