Write an essay stating the advantages and disadvantages of censorship. (350 words)

Censorship as evidenced in Fahrenheit 451 is an attempt to toally control the minds of the citizens. People who believe in censorship have little belief in people and their abilities to discrimate between right and wrong. Certainly the government in Fahrenheit 451 sees the people as particularly unintelligent and uses the media to tap into the lowest abilities and feelings the people have. This disadvantage means that people do not think for themselves; as is shown in many dystopian novels, people become completely brainwashed and do not question any propaganda they are fed.

The government in Fahrenheit 451 believes that their version of censorship has helped to keep people happy because there is no dissent and no confusion about what one should say to one another or what one should believe about others. This governmental control of the lives of the people would seem to be a way in which the people live in a stress free environment. Certainly when Montag approaches Mildred's friends and reads them some of the poetry he has been reading, he makes them feel sad and very uncomfortable. Mildred, of course, is unhappy with Montag because he has disrupted her "family" and their "lovely afternoon with one another." Also because of Mildred's attempted suicide, we know that she is not happy in her life. The fact that she is one of many who feels like this is reflected in the reaction of the medics who come to take care of her; they see this as normal and do not think it is particularly unusual, even though Montag himself is unnverved by the entire episode.