The universal theme in Fahrenheit 451 is censorship and how it can change society. Bradbury is firmly against censorship in the real world and in the afterword of my copy of the book is very clear where he stands. In response to all the letters he gets from people asking for more women rights to be added, God references to be edited out, novels being shorted to novellas or short stories to be put in a collection; Bradbury said, "How do I react to all of the above? By 'firing' the whole lot. By sending rejection slips to each and every one. By ticketing the assembly of idiots to the far reaches of hell. The point is obvious. There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches." (Bradbury 176) The world today is on a path toward the censored future of Ray Bradbury's imagination. Our society is already censoring books. Harry Potter is one of my favorite book series. Mrs. Yuill gave me the first book to read when I was in first grade. I thought that it was the best thing ever, and I still have a very high opinion of it. But many people haven't read the series because the book are "bad and demonic" (my religious Aunt after she found out I read Harry Potter). The series isn't allowed at some schools because of the witchcraft and magic. Censoring is already happening in today's time. Time Magazine's website has an article about the top 10 censored books, and number four on the list is Harry Potter. Apparently a group of parents in Lewiston, Maine tried to burn the books in 2001 (the year I first read The Sorcerer's Stone) (Time Staff). That is exactly what set up the futuristic book burning and outlawing of Fahrenheit 451! Bradbury denies it (Bradbuty 182) but America is slowly, but surely approaching a future similar to what he laid out in his novel.
Another example of censorship today is (number 8 on Time's list) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I read that last year for English and didn't think it had a need to be censored. But apparently the rest of the world does (Time Staff). The book offends to many people and is banned in some schools (Time Staff). By banning books and writing them so they are less offensive to various groups we are putting ourselves on the path of book burning and loss of observation, deep thinking, and stimulation.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.
Time Staff. "Removing the N Word from Huck Finn: Top 10 Censored Books." TIME.com. Time, 07 Jan. 2011. Web. 13 Aug. 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment