Analysis of Censorship in Fahrenheit 451

Censorship is an extremely problematic topic in today’s society. Today’s society censorship may seem to be taken too far sometimes. This may be true at times, but it is nothing compared to the censorship in the society in Fahrenheit 451. In their society it is extremely frowned upon to read books. It is even frowned upon to some extent to have abstract thoughts. The whole society has a fake idea of happiness which they believe to be true happiness in their own right. These are a constant recurring theme throughout the novel. The novel Fahrenheit 451 can be viewed as a warning to what could happen to our society in the future. 

Censorship has affected this society in numerous ways. “The government doesn’t want the people to become smarter than them so they put censorship into place so they aren’t able to read books, and if they do firemen will burn their house down.” ("What is the Role of Censorship in Fahrenheit 451?") The government has the people extremely scared of all books and even thinking about them. Books are not distinctly illegal. The books are so ostracized though that they are burned the moment they are found. The government has even gone so far as to have a mechanical hound that can recognize book reader’s DNA. There’s countless reasons why this is extremely dangerous for society. This amount of censorship leads to no singularity in their society. Everyone just obeys the government. They watch their parlors, listen to broadcasts on seashell headphones, and hate anyone who breaks the law. Uniqueness is a vital part in almost every society. This is eliminating even the idea of it. The idea of who holds the true power of censorship is brought up in this book. 

It may seem like the answer to the question of who the power of censorship really belongs to is simple. The quick and easy answer would be to say the government. Many would say government because they are the ones who enforced the ban against books and sent the firemen to go burn the books. The real answer to this question would be the people. The people have caused the books to burn and the rest of the censorship. The people are the ones who caused the books to be outlawed with them being offended. “Colored people don't like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn it. Someone's written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Bum the book.” (Bradbury 57). Beatty tries to use this as another reason why burning books is good for society. This also shows how the government wants to keep the tobacco company happy (“Fahrenheit 451 Quotes Censorship”). There can be many lessons from this book that can be used in society today. 

There are an immense amount of lessons that can be learned from the book for society today. One lesson we can learn from the novel is to not let the government control us. The people let the government take control of them with censorship with little to no resistance. There were only a few that resisted like Faber but they all waited too long. Faber even called himself a coward for how long he wanted to protest. The reason that has not happened in society is because people speak up. We should never let the government suppress information like how they are in this book. The difference in our society is that we would be able to make a change unlike in Fahrenheit 451. 

In conclusion, Fahrenheit 451 can be viewed as a warning to our society. Censorship affected the novel’s society in numerous ways. Censorship was in the power of the people. There are an immense amount of lessons to be learned from this novel. Censorship is one of the worst things a society can go through. Censorship was taken to the extreme in this book and many were punished for it. Some were so committed to standing up they died for it. Like the old lady who died with her books. She knew how important they were and didn’t want to live in a world any longer where she can't even read a book.