In today’s world, most information is available to access. People can agree or disagree with what is being said or written. As the population grows and evolves, so does censorship. What was enhancing a tune or on a tv display has now emerged as banning books and aligning news stations to positive political events. Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in 1953 but created a world that reflects and exaggerates these precise troubles with censorship. His important individual, Guy Montag, is dwelling in a futuristic society that destroys all styles of literature, puts familial values last, focuses on TV, puts sports over education, and keeps the public busy and distracted instead of really knowing what is going on. All of this is in an attempt to prevent the enlargement of deep conceptual thought. Although Montag works for the government by censoring the publics’ information via burning books, he starts to recognize that censorship has ruined society. Fahrenheit 451 contains many allusions, including historical, mythological, literary, and biblical references. Ray Bradbury uses these allusions to provide a point of reference for how the characters in the book relate to events and literature in order to develop the theme of censorship.
Bradbury indicated that censorship can destroy a society and everyone in it through his allusions. The government has complete control over what is being shown in the community. At the beginning of part 2, Montag goes to talk to Faber about books and what he has read. Faber then goes on to say, “Do you know the legend of Hercules and Antaeus, the giant wrestler, whose strength was so incredible so as long as he stood firmly on the earth? But when he was held, rootless, in mid-air, by Hercules, he perished easily” (Bradbury 79). Bradbury used this allusion to advance the theme that censorship has corrupted this society by eliminating books. The Legend. Hercules went to the garden of Hesperides for golden apples. Antaeus, a Libyan giant who supposedly had invincible strength, challenged Hercules to a wrestling match. Like the hero he was, Hercules accepted. Bradbury uses another allusion to demonstrate how censorship has produced corruption in society. Montag was eating dinner when he sees Mildred come in. In the book, it says “ Mildred ran from the parlor like a native fleeing an eruption of Vesuvius”(Bradbury 89). This is an allusion to the famous volcano that erupted in AD79 destroying the city of Pompeii and all of its residents. In the book, Bradbury uses this allusion to show that Mildred doesn’t was Montag to say anything to her friends about the books he has been reading. She has been brainwashed by the government to follow it without question. Mildred doesn’t agree with what Montag is doing, so she is acting like everything is normal to make sure the women don’t talk to Montag. These two examples assist Bradbury to give an explanation to his audience that censorship destroys society. It can make people lose their lives, switch on their neighbors, or follow blindly without query.
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Bradbury uses personification to show how censorship has brainwashed society. Nobody in the community is allowed to have self-thought. When Montag is talking to Clarice, for the first time, she is making him think for himself instead of going along with what the government wants. In the book, it says, “He felt his body divide itself into a hotness and coldness, a softness and hardness, a trembling and not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon the other” (Bradbury 21). This quote shows personification because Montag’s body cannot divide itself in half. It shows how Montag had a second notion about himself when he was speaking to Clarisse. She said when she talks to different people about the actual world they overlook her and carry on but while she talks to Montag, he listens and she thinks it is atypical that he is a fireman and does this. Bradbury uses personification when Montag was sitting on the train. In the text, it states, ' The train radio vomited upon Montag, in retaliation, a great download of music made of tin... ' (Bradbury 75). This quote shows personification because a radio cannot vomit on a person. The quote in the book means that Montag had tons in his head whilst he rode the train to Faber’s residence. He was thinking of the Bible and the words 'Denham's Dentifrice'. Then he heard everything clearly along with the tune of the train playing and the people speaking and additionally what he was saying in his thoughts. Bradbury uses personification to really show how bad society and the people within it are.
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