How Is Censorship Used In Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 is overflowing with social commentary on every page. Ray Bradbury’s main goal while writing Fahrenheit 451 was to share with the reader his thoughts on censorship in his society. Specifically, the way television was being used for everything from news to entertainment. He agreed with George Orwell’s thoughts on books as an important source of intellectual and individual thinking, which was the main cause of his disappointment with schools and libraries for removing the use of books in favor of television. He took the idea of televisions taking over daily life, then expanded and exaggerated it. In the novel, people have giant TV screens that cover entire walls, broadcasting government-approved news and entertainment 24/7; Montag’s wife wishes to one day have screens on all four walls of her parlor, so she can be completely enveloped in television. “How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall-TV put in?....If we had a fourth wall, why it'd be just like this room wasn't ours at all, but all kinds of exotic people's rooms” (27). …show more content…
Firemen, in this society, find and burn books and homes, rather than putting out fires as firemen today do. As the novel’s story continues, Montag finds himself questioning the actions of the firemen, and readers get a detailed breakdown of his thoughts, like on page 49, “And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books” (49). This quote shows how strongly books are tied to actual people, that they are more than words and paper, and idea that is further developed later when Montag joins the exiles who’ve each memorized a