Fahrenheit 451: Censorship Dangers and Distraction in Society

“You're not like the others. I’ve seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night. The others would never do that.” (Bradbury 23-24)

The book “Fahrenheit 451” by, Ray Bradbury. The title itself is a symbol of censorship because that is the temperature at that books burn. In this book, the culture depicted is neither happy nor sad. The censorship in the novel helps distracts the people into thinking they are happy and have everything they may need. Citizens are glued to their 'walls' or giant televisions and live a life in which nothing of value is remembered. The government censors everything to help keep society in uniform. Therefore no one will be able to overpower Chief Beatty with the knowledge he knows. In this essay, we will research the novel Fahrenheit 451, censorship and distraction themes used by Ray Bradbury versus happiness to move the plot forward and to highlight the effects of a society that censors knowledge and promotes mindless distraction.

Through Censorship, society was forced to have no giving emotion and any knowledge of past or future occurrences. Another effect of censorship is that it has dumbed down society. “Instead of allowing people the opportunity to think and to pursue academic study censorship only permits self-gratification and entertainment” Through a quote from Beatty states “Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information . . . Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with”. (Ray Bradbury 61). In that quote, it explains that censorship creates the illusion of thinking that's why they all have to think alike. With the government censoring everything the citizens in Fahrenheit 451 have no idea about what is truly happening in their world.

Through Distraction VS. Happiness, the citizens were distracted by all the chaos that was happening in the society which made them always be in a joyful mood. Distraction is a word that is used to describe something or someone that is causing you to not be concentrated. It keeps one from focusing on whatever it is they’re trying to do. On the other hand, happiness is a word to express feelings. When one is happy it means everything is going well and nothing is causing a distraction. Through the characters such as the Old Lady, Montag, and, Clarrise you can tell they are not happy just pretending as if they are. Clarisse says to Montag “Are you happy” ( Bradbury 7) because that’s when Montag realizes he has just been distracted the entire time, he doesn’t know if he’s happy. This quote shows from the start of the book that Montag isn’t happy but it takes time for him to notice. In the end, Guy Montag ends up being happy And living like he wanted to be living. Montag's wife, Mildred distracted herself by overdosing on pills. The next day she doesn’t remember any of this, but the day before she wanted to commit suicide. With that being said it shows the reader how sad and unhappy she was because she wanted to take her life. The quote related to this is “We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam.”(Bradbury 83)

Censorship and Distraction Vs. Happiness ties in together because to have happiness in society things will need to be censored. The two themes are important in the book because without these themes people would be lost. They move the plot in many ways because they helped shape the characters.

In conclusion, technology has modernized a ton. The fact that many people believed they where happy and weren't was a major sign of censorship and distraction. Montag finally finds the true meaning of being happy and is no longer distracted he believed there was a deeper meaning of living and now he understands the true meaning of the world.

“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture just stop reading them”. (Ray Bradbury)