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Matt Yates Jeff Barton Period 8



Frauenfelder, Mark. "(Apocryphal?) Anecdote about Fahrenheit 451." //Boing Boing//. Web. 19 Dec. 2010..


 * Censorship
 * Why Books Get Banned
 * Book Burnings
 * Reading: Dangerous/Beneficial

"Quotes from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury." //Whichbook//. 2008. Web. 20 Dec. 2010. .
 * Intro:**

Fahrenheit 451 covers many interesting topics, but today Jeff and I are going to talk about censorship, books, and reading as a whole. Books get burned for seemingly no reason. The government controls the lives of the citizens in Fahrenheit 451. Books also get banned cause of the knowledge they contain. And, finally, is reading beneficial to a person or dangerous? The topics covered by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 are complex and well thought out.


 * Censorship:**

The setting in which Fahrenheit 451 takes place is a very dull community. The lack of thought leads to the censorship in the community. The government, which controls the communication and other technology in the community, take advantage of the public's desire for mindless reality. "Mildred, as does most of the community, immerses herself in the provided for her to consume. Whenever she is not at the TV, she plugs in her earphones, always soaking up the artificial stimulus and messages someone else feeds to her." (Eller) The public just wishes to do whatever requires the least amount of thought. Eventually the public becomes unwillingly to give up the pleasures that require very little thought and effort. This now leaves no one to upset what has become the norm of society. No one has any original thought anymore.


 * Why Books get Banned:**

There are more than enough reasons to talk about how why books get banned in the city, where Guy Montag lives. one of the main reasons why these books get banned and burnt is because the government believes if you start to read books and think about them, then you will start thinking and that is not what this government wants people to in the suburb. Literature is banned because it might lead you to think or to question the status quot of happiness and freedom from worry through the elimination of controversy. Guy (the main character of this book) is a fireman and he does the exact opposite of what fireman do in this century he burns houses and burns books so people will stop reading the literature because people don't want you to think about stuff. i think books are banned also because then people can't question stuff to people, lastly Mildred and lot of other people in this society just sit around the house and watch t.v to take her mind off what is going on with the real world. another way books ended up getting banned was because the diversity and concepts were so not appreciated by every race or culture." Colored people don't like Little black Sambo. Burn it. White people don't feel good about Uncle toms cabin.Burn it." (Bradbury 59) Captain beatty is trying to tell Montag to give up up the fight because the citizens themselves stopped reading the books for a reason.



Kelly. "Film Anyone?" Subterranean Books | Everything a Neighborhood Bookstore Should Be. 2007. Web. 20 Dec. 2010. .


 * Book Burnings:**

The society of Fahrenheit 451 is not supposed to read so the job of the firemen is to burn the books and houses of those who break the law of reading. The job of the firemen is opposite of what a normal firemen does because of this law. As soon as someone is reported for reading or possessing a book, the firemen board their "salamanders", or fire trucks, and ride to the scene. They then use their flame throwers and burn the entire house as long as the books. The person or persons living there is either killed or locked up by the government because they end up never being heard from again. The government doesn't want these people to own or read books because this would lead them to think out against the government with their own actual thoughts.


 * Is Reading books beneficial or Dangerous:**

In a lot of peoples opinions reading can be beneficial in many ways, you learn a lot from the book, you can learn a lesson, it can make you think, and lastly the book can be funny and it is amusing. in mine an Matts opinion reading is beneficial because you are thinking what you are reading which is a good thing. in the book that we read the government does not want you to read because then when you are reading you are thinking, so without thinking you live useless lives like Mildred and a ton of other people in the novel. books can be dangerous too because if you are reading something and then you get offended then you end up telling people not to read the book because it is offensive.


 * Conclusion:**

there was a lot of book burning, censorship, why books got banned, if reading is dangerous or beneficial, etc. in the book. we think that there was a lot of everything i listed in the first sentence. in the end I think that reading is beneficial because once again it is good for your mind and also it makes you think about what you are reading which is what guy Montag and his community struggles with in the book. Matt and I both agree that this was a very good book by Ray Bradbury and taught us a lot of lessons mostly on censorship.

<- **1.**<- **2.** Hope, Diagn. "Fahrenheit 451." //1 Million Words//. Web. 19 Dec. 2010. http://1millionwords.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/fahrenheit- 451/. **1.******* "Just a Word." //AskUnclePauly//. 2 Dec. 2009. Web. 20 Dec. 2010. http://askunclepauly.wordpress.com/page/3/. **2.*****


 * Cited Sources:**

Eller, Edward E. "An overview of //Fahrenheit 451//." //Literature Resource Center//. Detroit: Gale, 2011. //Literature Resource Center//. Web. 19 Dec. 2010.

McGiveron, Rafeeq O. "Bradbury's //Fahrenheit 451//." //Explicator// 54.3 (Spring 1996): 177-180. Rpt. in //Contemporary Literary Criticism//. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 235. Detroit: Gale, 2007. //Literature Resource Center//. Web. 19 Dec. 2010.

Bradbury, Ray. //Fahrenheit 451//. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. Print.