Fahrenheit 451

English

Social Criticism in Fahrenheit 451 Social criticism is very important in society today. Most people in our society encounter social criticism on a daily basis! Television shows like Saturday Night Live, discuss social issues on just about every episode. Social criticism is important to have though, because it keeps our society in check, so we know what is right and what is wrong, based on opinions. In the book Fahrenheit 451, author Ray Bradbury socially criticizes many different things. Two of the things he criticizes many times are censorship and politics. Ray Bradbury socially criticizes censorship in his book, Fahrenheit 451. At one point during the story, Guy Montag, the main character, and his wife, Mildred, are talking about a time when Montag burnt a woman to death because she would not give up her books. Montag felt guilty and told Mildred, “There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You do not stay for nothing” (Bradbury 51). Bradbury is criticizing censorship here, because it is the cause of a woman’s death. If books were legal, this woman would still be living a normal life. Since books are illegal in this town, and Montag now defends books, Bradbury probably thinks banning books is ridiculous! At one point in this story Montag is very frustrated, he says to Faber, a retired English professor, "I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it'll make sense” (Bradbury 82). Montag is frustrated that he cannot write down his feelings, because that is illegal. Bradbury is criticizing the fact that when someone is mad, and needs to vent and write down their thoughts, they cannot do that, due to that fact that it is illegal because of censorship. Montag finally realizes how pointless it was to burn books. He says to him self, “The sun burnt everyday. It burnt time. The world rushed in a circle and turned on its axis and time was busy burning the years and the people anyway, without any help from him. So if he burnt things with the firemen and the sun burnt time, that meant everything burnt! One of them had to stop burning. The sun wouldn't, certainly. So it looked as if it had to be Montag” (Bradbury 141). Guy Montag realizes that the sun burnt everything in the world, while the firemen burnt books. He knows that the sun will not stop burning, so he might as well stop burning books! Bradbury is again criticizing here how pointless it is for someone to burn books. Bradbury is saying that there are way too many other things in the world being burnt, so why burn books. Although Bradbury socially criticizes censorship many times, he also criticizes other things as well. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury socially criticizes politics. Montag tries to have a conversation with his wife’s friends about who they voted for in the last election, and Mrs. Bowles says, “I laid it on the line for President Noble. I think he’s one of the nicest looking men ever became president” (Bradbury 96). This causes Montag to become furious, because he thinks it is ridiculous to vote for a man based on looks. This is criticism towards politics because Bradbury thinks that many people do not know anything about the person they vote for, they just vote for them because they look cool, or are attractive. Bradbury also criticizes the fact that people get unhappy about politics pretty easily. Captain Beatty says to Montag, “If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides of a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none” (Bradbury 61). Bradbury is criticizing politics here because he is saying that people get influenced very easy. If a man hears two sides of a story, he will start to worry and not know what side to take. If a man has only one side of a story then sure, they will be fine. What Bradbury is criticizing here about politics is that people need to make their own decisions, not make a decision on whom they like or what they support just based off one thing they hear. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, author Ray Bradbury socially criticizes many different things. He socially criticizes censorship and politics, many times. Bradbury’s criticism was very good though, censorship should be banned everywhere, where as everything he criticized about politics was also true. There are many other problems with our society today. A question to keep in mind though; is our society not as bad as Bradbury makes it seem?