The power of censorship is used profoundly everyday, to conceal the world's utmost problems. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury harshly attacks the censorship used by the government to make people ignorant to the issues surrounding ones life, and to show that censorship does more harm than good. The censorship depicted in Fahrenheit 451 is shown in many different forms. (1) Bradbury uses certain characters to represent certain parts of censorship, and shows how each is used in a negative connotation. These characters show the hardships and difficulties that one faces when living in a censored society. (2) Bradbury also uses objects, such as loud music and fast cars, to play the role as censorship. The objects used by Bradbury are elements that if one is not careful, they can get to caught up in them, and these elements will become their life. This in turn, is what the government wants to happen, so that one is oblivious to their surroundings. (3) Destruction of property and objects in nature are used to show censorship. The burning of literature at a high a temperature shows how the government is trying to rid the people of having a mind of their own. In nature there are many substances, such as water, that play a role in censorship. Water is the complete opposite of fire, and this is why Bradbury uses the two in comparison very often. .
Censorship has a strong potency, that if not used correctly, could hurt people, as apposed to helping them, which in the end is what the government is trying to do. .
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(1) Bradbury uses his characters, to show that Americans are censored everyday by the high powered government, and to show what damage it can do on society. The main character and protagonist of the story is Guy Montag. At the beginning of the story, he is no more than a fireman who lives without thinking or feeling; by the end of the novel, he is transformed into a true human "someone who realizes the value of knowledge.