SOCIAL CRITICISM IN FAHRENHEIT 451 by RAY BRADBURY

SOCIAL CRITICISM IN FAHRENHEIT 451 by RAY BRADBURY

Harmaoğlu, Özhan

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury published in 1953. It is regarded as one of his best work. When examining Fahrenheit 451 as a piece of dystopian fiction, a definition for the term “dystopia” is required. In Merriam Webster dictionary, the term “dystopia” is defined as “an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives. Dystopia is often used as an antonym of “utopia”, a perfect world often imagined existing in the future. A Dystopia, therefore, is a terrible place. Accordingly, one of the major themes of the novel is “censorship”. Owing and reading books are forbidden and thought to be unnecessary. Members of society focus only on entertainment, mostly watching T.V, immediate gratification and speeding through life. Compared to the situation of our society today, the similarities can easily be seen. Perhaps reading books aren’t still forbidden but the importance of reading is fading away gradually and thought to be unnecessary and boring especially by most young generations whose only concern is social networks. The principal objective of this paper is to explain some ideas that work as social criticism in the novel. It will further explain how Bradbury criticizes society, what messages the characters give and then unfold what is being criticized in the future is actually very similar to what exists in our world today. The entire paper will give an effective explanation of social criticism of the novel by comparing the social criticism of the novel to other dystopian novels such as George Orwell’s “1984”. Keywords: Social criticism, Fahrenheit 451, censorship, dystopia

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2016

3518