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Why is Fahrenheit 451 in the banned books list?

does anyone know why Fahrenheit 451 is in the banned books list...please be detailed in your responce

Public Comments

  1. If you've read the book, it is about a futuristic society that burns books. They basically don't allow people to think for themselves and flood their lives with mindless activities. The firefighter's jobs are to seek out people with books, and burn the books, until there are no books left in the world. It makes sense for this book to be banned because it is about the burning of books. Many schools have banned it to keep kids from getting wrong ideas.
  2. The banning of "Fahrenheit 451" Ray Bradbury's 1953 book about the evils of book banning and censorship is one of those circular jokes that we see every once in a while. The initial complaint was that the words "hell" and "damn" appeared in it making it a corrupting force on society. Opponents then noted that one of the books burned was a Christian Bible and took the position that the author advocated burning Bibles (rather than the opposite that he was trying to show how bad things had become) A more obvious reason seems to exist. One of the main themes of the story is that a government which tries to suppress freedom of expression should be opposed. In the early 50's, when this book was written, this advocacy of opposition was seen as a bad thing by real world authoritarian groups (e.g. McCarthyism) that claimed to have all the answers. Like the opposition to "1984", the opposition to "Fahrenheit 451" seems to grow as the depicted society grows too similar to our own. One of these uncomfortable parallels is today's increased use of entertainment in place of learning and culture. Ray Bradbury has stated that this dumbing down was one of the concerns he was trying to raise.
  3. It is just another form of control. Those powers that be would rather keep all the citizens in the dark and submissive. Rather then to create those that might at some point rally to a revolution if they found out the truth.
  4. This is sooo ironic! I live in England where we don't ban books! Anyway, Farenheit 451 is a futuristic book about a totalitarian society where books are considered dangerous because they encourage people to think for themselves. 'Firemen' are employed to burn books, and owning a book is against the law. It was written in America at the height of the Cold War where free thought and any critique of the government was considered dangerous. It is basically saying, look, this is what could happen in our society if we keep trying to control what people should and shouldn't read, watch, learn. I am shocked that it is still banned. Come to England and you can get a copy in any public library! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451
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