The Forgotten Past And Manipulation Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

When one is drawn away from life’s realities, by censorship, doubts begin to be made on one’s true purpose in the world. Many examples of Censorship such as books, artifacts, past life etc. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Douglas Bradbury, a National Institute of Arts and Letters Award winner for contributions to American Literature demonstrates the protagonist, Guy Montag a thirty year old fireman experiencing an intellectual awakening, who burns books for a living in order to protect the comfort and sanity of the society in which he lives in. Revealing the authority of Censorship, and how one can be controlled by it, and in this case the characterization of Montag depicts the symbolism of a hero and the epiphany of his true self worth, and sudden realizations and behavior in his society.

Fahrenheit 451 shows the importance of following what is right and not what is unjust. As for Books, they were highly censored by the government because they wanted to control the people in the society that weren’t as knowledgeable. Bradbury hints this in Fahrenheit 451 as being a dystopian society for a tyrannical overthrow of the government in attempts to keep people from gaining too much knowledge. As it reflects throughout, 'That's sad,' said Montag, quietly, 'because all we put into it is hunting and finding and killing. What a shame if that's all it can ever know' (Bradbury 25). In this, Montag refers to the robot dog who captures those who illegally read or hide unauthorized books from the government. He feels sorrow for the dog because he feels as if he is being used, but in reality they’re whole society they live in is being manipulated into thinking they are doing what is right by the government.

And someday we'll remember so much that we'll build the biggest goddamn steamshovel in history and dig the biggest grave of all time and shove war in and cover it up. Come on now, we're going to go build a mirror factory first and put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them. (157)

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Furthermore, Censorship was a big problem in the society, as where Montag a fireman didn’t realize his actions were wrong in cases because of what he had learned and had been taught to do by society. Montag was soon caught and confronted by Beatty one of Montag’s fireman partners, saying “I hope you‘ll be staying with us, now that your fever is done and your sickness over” (101). Beatty demonstrates that he is disappointed that Montag is one of those who are against the government, reading books and going against the law. In actuality, Beatty was a Fireman just like Montag reading books himself, but instead trying to also control Montag, in making him think that being a Fireman is what he was destined to be. Beatty would do this in order to distract Montag from the real world and allow for books to be burned because Beatty did not want society to succeed and have the same feeling he had while reading books for himself. Montag wasn’t given the right to freedom of thought because the society they lived in had censored many things in a way that made it seem like they weren’t because books carried knowledge and if they didn’t have books and only had technology to control them with they wouldn’t retaliate as much as they would if they knew their past and how they were actually being controlled and used.

Furthermore, many seek the expression of happiness in a world where perfection is a struggle and sought as non-existent. Occasionally, those who don't have the self restraint into wanting to make things perfect, especially in a society where perfection is nearly impossible. One may take excessive extreme routes to pursue a world without problems, perfection, and equality demonstrated in some cases, in government where they may turn to Censorship believing it will resolve issues in society, and gain some over powering ability. Montag, the protagonist begins to think about his role in the world, beginning to realize that the society he lives in is manipulating them to think they are living a perfect lifestyle, and doubts himself about what good as firemen they are actually doing in the society. As Montag recognizes, the problem is, “we never burned right...”, he perceives that as fireman they weren’t realizing why they were burning books instead of stopping fires. Giving Montag a reason to turn away from society and how they see things and going on with his own views now being more knowledgeable than the others, with the following realization, “He saw a great juggernaut of stars form in the sky and threaten to roll over and crush him” (p. 124). This demonstrates how Montag was finally able to see truths in his society and self worth, instead of being blinded by the fire being a fireman burning books for no real reason. Montag had grown up believing that what he as a fireman was doing what was right and correct in order to help society grow and be better but he hadn't realized that the government had manipulating him and everyone else into thinking they were living in a happy society where books wouldn't need to interfere because they were made illegal. This was because they believed that books made people realize stuff that the government didn't want them to know so they made it seem as if the books were boring and bad for you and could ruin ur happiness because they weren’t entertaining. And in Fahrenheit 451, a futuristic society was highly idealised and looked up but they felt as if books would interfere with the growth and expansion of their future. And if books revealed things from the past would make people not want to look forward to future innovation, so they felt that way. And also so that the government could easily find numerous excuses and ways to have control over them but terrifyingly creating a tyrannical government in doing so.

Ray Bradbury draws in some key elements in Fahrenheit 451 and Fire and the Burning of Books was highly expressed based on what they would do in order to preserve the law of no unauthorized books being read in society. Montag’s main role model Beatty had gone in a brawl over illegally hiding and reading books where Montag is caught but then turns on Beatty and burns him to death, “In the middle of crying Montag knew it for the truth. Beatty had wanted to die. He had just stood there, not really trying to save himself…” ( 116). Montag had burned Beatty and thought to himself that maybe Beatty had wanted to die, because he may have wanted to die as a symbolic symbol towards the people who don’t read books and the future making people who read books seem horrible by burning someone who was supposedly innocent in the eyes of the people in the society. Montag had decided to place books in other firemen's homes so that they would be accused of reading books also and so that it wouldn’t make him look as bad,“He heard the fire sirens start up and run, and the Salamanders coming, coming to burn Mr.Blacks house…” (130) . Montag justifies his actions because he says that Mrs. Blacks husband had destroyed many people's lives over the years by setting their homes on fire. And Montag had wanted to place books in their home so that they could see how it felt to have their house burnt down and so Montag could get revenge on them for not realizing that what they were doing in society was wrong and brutal. Another key element in Fahrenheit 451 was the initial add, of meaningful metaphorical use such as, 'Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave' (34). In this, Ray Bradbury shows Montag using a metaphor during a conversation with his wife basically meaning that maybe the books can get them out of being part of all the censorship. And so that they could escape from the lies they were living. “... and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning...” (Bradbury 3). Montag is comparing himself to a conductor directing a symphony of burning fire on books. This shows that Montag was proud of being a Fireman and what he was doing in his job as a Fireman until soon on later doubts himself and realizes that he was living in a world of lies and tyranny.

All in all, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 depicts the dangerous possibility of being controlled by and living in a dystopian society. And how one can be easily manipulated into Censorship and drawn away from their belief and purpose in the world. And many who may disagree on terms where Censorship is reliable in some cases of government authority, but leads to further failure in the future of their society.