The Theme Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

Joseph Brodsky, a Russian poet once mentioned that “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 integrates themes such as censorship; disguised as entertainment through characters, events or other themes censorship becomes one of the most seen themes throughout the novel especially in the following instances: firemen burning books, prohibition of books, and mass media (TV). Characters such as Montag the firemen, Clarisse the girl, Faber the English professor, and Mildred the spouse of Montag all bare characteristic relating to ignorance due to government censorship in their society. All knowledge comes from the government, through mass media and “school.”
To illustrate censorship Bradbury incorporates the ironic firemen whose job is to start fires. Their involvement into the novel shows how much the governments has succeeded in molding a mindless society filled with men and women who have no interest in knowledge or in the process of thought and or questioning. “It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world...” (Bradbury 2). Firemen
“No matter when he came in, the walls were always talking to Mildred.” (Bradbury 63). Mildred becomes so absorbed day and night by the mindless entertainment that suicide becomes a usual event. Ignorance in Fahrenheit 451 plays a colossal role in the governments success. Through media people, all those in the society, become slaves who act on behalf of their master in this case the government and its allies, consisting of the firemen and the hound. TV parlour’s are the main causes of a violent and depressed society. Life in this utopia revolves around watching TV, eating, speeding, and finally