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Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451: Government Control
Fahrenheit451 is a novel by Ray Bradbury whose protagonist Guy Montag who is a
fireman, but unlike our todays firemen whose work is to put out fire, the work of firemen in
Fahrenheit451 is to burn books and ensure no one gets to read them. This is signified by
Fahrenheit451 which according to the author is the temperature at which books burn.
Although in our todays life we clearly do not encounter the culture of book burning, the
book burning culture may literary signify a lot of practices in our day to day life. Books in the setting
of the novel are where the general population would go to find information and knowledge.
Therefore by burning the books the government is preventing the citizens from accessing the
information necessary for them to learn of any government wrong doing and also the freedom to
think for themselves. We have encountered several situations where the governments have tried to
prevent information from reaching the mass in fear that it might spur the mass to do something
which might not have good effects on the government or which might even make the mass vote
against them in elections. This brings into question does the government have the power to control
what reaches us, do they have the right to choose to us what we watch, listen or even read about? We
have of cases where several governments monitor several social media to check on what we post and
the general effect it might have on their governance. Lets take for the recent occurrence in Hong
Kong where following the protest the mainland blocked all the channels which were broadcasting

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the event and even went ahead to block Facebook in what they termed as preventing people from
spreading propaganda.
Though the novel was published in 1953 but its relevance to todays life remains very clear,
just as the government using firemen like Montag to burn books and suppresses the information
from reaching the general mass. The governments of today have devised several ways of preventing
the information from reaching the general mass. These include regulating what the media airs;
claiming that some of the information is matter of national security and as we have seen some of the
governments going a step further to ban some of social media sites which they claim might be used
to spread propaganda. Therefore Fahrenheit451 has its own way of applying to our todays life and
we could apply it as frequently and the warning of Ray Bradbury against government control is as
relevant as possible.
We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but
everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no
mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house
next door. Burn it."(go.galegroup.com, page 140).Beatty is trying to educate Montag about the bad
influence of books, according to captain Beatty books gives you ideas of your own. It makes one
examine things as an individual instead of as a community. Reading books makes us unhappy and
makes one want to compare themselves against each other which is a sin since people should be
equal. This shows us why books to this community are evils which should be burned since according
to Beatty they stir up the community. It indicates a government which does not appreciate people
thinking for themselves and would do anything to stop them. Books as we know expands our
spectrum of thinking and might give us insight into the wrong things which are occurring in our
community, this therefore might pose danger to the government thus to control this they advocate for

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burning of books. They would like individuals to remain nave and this would make them easy to
exploit and therefore offer them guarantee of the continuation of their rule.
These Ideas are not very new to us, most ideas that initiate change most often come from
books. Most constitution are written from religious and other books and we have heard of countries
which solely base their constitution on certain religious books for example Sharia Laws which are
directly borrowed from Quran. Therefore to burn books would be a way of preventing the truth from
people and preventing opposition against certain believes and practices. This can be shown by the
occurrence in the Nazi government under Hitler which he ordered certain forbidden books to be
burnt down. It brings to your mind the questions, why did he order the burning of these books? What
did the book contain that was so threatening that he saw to it that they were burnt? (Fahrenheit 451
as a Warning." 123HelpMe.com. 11 Nov 2014http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=15454).
Hitler knew of the motivation people would get from reading these books, as he knew that books
always inspire readers to think for themselves. He knew that from books people would gain
information and knowledge which would lead them to question his rule and his inhumane activities.
Thus he had to make sure that this would not happen by burning the books which he dimmed as
threat to his authority and rule. Another documented example is where we see books being put to fire
by Ch'in Shih Huang-ti who ruled China after the fall of Chou in 246B.C. People hated him and thus
to prevent criticism he saw to it that all books were burnt down ("Fahrenheit 451 as a Warning."
123HelpMe.com. 11 Nov 2014). These are just but few examples where prominent leaders used
book burning to ensure the continuance of their rule and to avoid criticism from various individuals
from affecting their governance. This brings us to the question of whether these behaviors still
happen up to this days and the answer is strictly yes. We might not have government bodies that are
dedicated solely for burning books but we have heard of certain documents which are banned from

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publication because they incriminate various governments. An example is the famous wiki-leaks
reports which have been exposing various sagas in various governments ranging from corruption by
senior government official to other various malpractices.
Another thing that comes out is how the government uses wall-TV to feed the citizen minds
with programs which are non-reproductive. This is shown by how Mildred in the book says that all
she requires to be happy is fourth wall TV so that she can interact with the characters and to her
thats all that is required for her life to be complete. She goes ahead and asks why one would need a
book when there are TVs to keep them happy and contented. Even when impending international
war is at sight no one bothers to look for any necessary information which might help them. It
clearly shows the ability of how the government together with the media has succeeded in the quest
of preventing the general mass from attaining the necessary information that may improve their way
of thinking and help them in making decisions which are right for them instead of relying on the
government to make all their decisions. It shows a society which is nave and contented and thus the
government would easily get away with anything since there are no check-ups in place to monitor
the government. (Mott, page120)
This is not very far from our todays life where the activity of book reading have been
replaced by us sitting in front of big TVs watching programs which have this specific kind of
lifestyle where certain behaviors that were once considered immoral are now accepted. No one cares
anymore about books either as a form of education or a source where vital information about our day
to day life can be obtained. The great importance which was once given to the news casting is no
longer there and the news segments of different media houses have been cut shot to create time for
popular TV shows which would bring in huge profit for the media houses. People of today just like
Mildreds of Fahrenheit451 are so interested and engorged in different programs that we have come

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to believe that the characters in various shows are meters by which we should judge our lives.
Various journalist instead of doing investigative reports on how the government works, are out there
investigating what actor so and so ate for lunch, where which celebrity will be performing ,which
shop or mall this or that actor will be visiting. The entire media have just shifted from informing the
mass to entertaining the mass. In some countries we have even seen the government controlling what
the media airs to the society. What is newsworthy and what might be a matter of national security. A
good example is in China where during the Hong Kong protest several stations were blocked in the
mainland Beijing from airing the ongoing protest. Meanwhile the government media channels
continued with their programs. This clearly shows how most governments have gotten away with
various malpractices through channeling citizens focus from their role checking how the
government is run to the TV shows which are used to brain wash the citizens.
Though Farenheit451 is a futuristic book which warns of how the government in the plot will
come to stop the population from gaining information and knowledge to ensure its smooth running.
What Ray Bradbury talks about have already come to pass and is even still here with us. Therefore
its upon the entire population to seek information and various governments duty to provide the
required information. Information and knowledge is power and under no circumstance should one be
denied access to them. Therefore we should heed to his warning and refuse to be denied information
at whatever cost.

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Works cited
"An Analysis on Information Technologies: Fahrenheit 451" StudyMode.com. 03 2005. 2005. 03
2005 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/An-Analysis-On-Information-TechnologiesFahrenheit-50160.html>
Mott, Jason. The Returned.