Totalitarianism In Fahrenheit 451 - 1899 Words

Totalitarianism is the most radical denial of freedom. It describes a society with no rights and no control over one’s own thoughts or actions. According to the Online Oxford Dictionaries, totalitarianism is, â€Å"a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state† (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com). In other words, totalitarianism is a society controlled by a government, composed of a limited amount of people, with complete control over the population. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury entails of a society controlled by a totalitarian government, providing insight on how its mechanics function. Bradbury, a renowned writer especially for his visions of the future expressed†¦show more content†¦Fear is a common technique adopted by totalitarian governments in order to maintain control. Bradbury demonstrates the use of fear, in Fahrenheit 451, through the public burning of books; â€Å"Burn all, bur n everything. Fire is bright† (Badbury 58). Fire is big, bright and noticeable. Books are burnt for everyone to see, in order to create a population who do not rebel, since they become fearful of having their houses burnt down as well. After committing a crime, escape becomes the only option to avoid punishment, such as condemnation. However, the Mechanical Hound creates a sense of no hope for the population to escape, since it never fails demonstrated when the television report says, â€Å"[the] Mechanical Hound never fails. Never since its first use in tracking quarry has thus incredible invention made a mistake.† (Bradbury 126). The Mechanical Hound is flawless. With a sniff of a person’s scent, it can successfully track them without failing. Therefore, the public looses hope in liberation, making it futile to rebel. The consequences enacted by the authorities when one breaks the law causes people to refrain from revolting, enabling the maintenance of discip line through fear. In addition, fear helps mask the inadequacies of the government. The war is a tool used by the government, exemplified when Mrs. Phelps says, â€Å"He’ll beShow MoreRelatedTotalitarianism In Fahrenheit 4511482 Words   |  6 Pagesto adapt to an ever increasing prominence of technological advances that were changing their daily lives. Reliance on technology that is perpetually forced upon a populace in order to pacify them as depicted in Ray Bradbury’s â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†, creates seeds of totalitarianism that are allowed to be sown and thrive. Although written for science fiction pleasure; Bradbury externalizes a multitude of his own fears such as technology, censorship, and the ideas lured to ideas that exude a utopian faà §adeRead More1984 And Fahrenheit 4511505 Words   |  7 PagesOrwell, and Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the concepts of totalitarianism and censorship are addressed in various ways. Both texts are of dystopian fic tion, set in post-nuclear war nations, although they are somewhat of a different nature. The concepts of totalitarianism and censorship are explored throughout the texts by addressing the issue of ‘knowledge is power’, the use and abuse of technology and the desensitising of society. Although these are mentioned in both 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, they areRead MoreThe Loss of Personal Freedoms in a Totalitarian Government Essays1810 Words   |  8 Pagesoccupation. In fact, these citizens have no rights. They cannot speak freely, they do not enjoy any personal freedoms or privacy, and the media is aggressively censored. This is the world of George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The protagonist of Fahrenheit 451 is Guy Montag, and he is a fireman. His job is to destroy books completely by setting fire to them. Winston Smith is the main character in 1984, where he works as a civil servant in the lower class ruling party. Both of theseRead Mor e`` Nineteen Eighty Four And Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury3066 Words   |  13 Pagesâ€Å"If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.† - Benjamin Franklin Explore the themes of individuality and conformity in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ and ‘Fahrenheit 451’ In ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’, by George Orwell, and ‘Fahrenheit 451’, by Ray Bradbury, individuality and conformity are presented as fundamental toward the stability of both societies: without the command over these two factors the governments’s influence on the masses would â€Å"break down†. Accordingly, in order to maintain dominanceRead MoreFahrenheit 451: The Future is Now Essay2640 Words   |  11 Pagessociety mirroring the world in Bradbury’s novel among other dystopian novels of the time. His society fits the idea of totalitarianism in the fact that it is a â€Å"form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of the individual’s life to the authority of the government† (Britannica). This can be seen in Fahrenheit 451 in the way people are controlled by the television and in the way firemen deal with people who possess books. It is alsoRead MoreGeorge Orwe ll s Fahrenheit 451 1092 Words   |  5 Pagesdystopian texts; 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Orwell’s 1984 was committed to paper under the backdrop of the Stalinist totalitarian regime in the Soviet Union, where the freedom of thought had been abolished; which parallels the fascist sovereignty of 1984, governed under the omnipresent puppeteer, Big Brother. Intended to be a warning to humanity concerning the â€Å"poisons of totalitarianism† (Orwell) which denies individuals of basic rights. Similarly, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was scribed during theRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale And Fahrenheit 4511560 Words   |  7 PagesThe Handmaid’s Tale and Fahrenheit 451 are similar novels because they both portray the disciplines in the humanities of literature and film. Both novels present issues that are related to the disciplines of government and political science. The protagonist in each novel is placed in a situation that they are powerless in which is due to the oppression of their dystopian society. Although everyone else has conformed to this n ew society, Offred and Montag have realized that the societies they areRead MoreThe New World And Fahrenheit 451 Essay864 Words   |  4 PagesTreasury, once said â€Å"if you do not stand for something, you will fall for anything.† The formation of an individual’s beliefs, sense of belonging, and sense of community all stem from the realization of self identification. Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 both depict a futuristic society where self identification is either being stripped from citizens or has been completely eradicated altogether. The rise of technology in both societies has usurped the importance of knowledge and personal experiencesRead MoreRay Bradbury s Fahrenheit 4511528 Words   |  7 Pageshelped shape great minds and influenced the education system. Picture the extent of the effects of a world so insipid, one where socializing is no longer a norm and abstract thought is rare and frowned upon. That is exactly what Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 depicts through the perspective of its protagonist, Guy Montag. Through his eyes, we experience life with the consequences of the extinction of books. History itself has proven the devastating event that is book burning; Nazi Germany’s book burningRead MoreFahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury1038 Words   |  5 PagesThroughout Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury demonstrates a different kind of censorship. He exposes an insidious censorship that is brewed from distraction. The distraction is achieved by the banning of books, claimed to be a step toward equality. But, Bradbury shows that without intellectual freedom, equality is an empty promise which leads itself to totalitarianism and rebellion. The society in Fahrenheit 451 despises book. One of the reasons why the population decided to remove published document