In his Afterward to Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury wrote, “There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.” While Fahrenheit 451 is fiction – in fact, science fiction –can we perhaps find parallels between the story of Guy Montag the “fireman” and real life free-speech related issues in 2013?
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For this assignment, your task is to find current (in the last couple of years to the present) censorship-related issue and discuss significant parallels you find between this issue and Bradbury’s story**. For example, just as the government employs Montag and the other firemen to burn unauthorized books in an attempt to control what people know and think, you might see the Catholic Church’s recent labeling of The Da Vinci Code as an “anti-Catholic diatribe” and its subsequent call for Catholics to boycott the film version of The Da Vinci Code as an attempt by a powerful entity to exercise control over people’s access to information/knowledge. This is only one example; you have a wealth of different topics at your disposal, topics you may find online (at The First Amendment Center and/or FIRE or other websites) and/or in your other readings for this class, such as the ALA’s list of Most Frequently Banned/Challenged Books, Project Censored, and various news articles.
In analyzing the parallels between Bradbury’s story and your chosen topic, you might consider some of the following questions:
In analyzing the parallels between Bradbury’s story and your chosen topic, you might consider some of the following questions:
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Who is doing (or at least attempting) the censorship?
What is being censored (or, what is it that might potentially be censored)?
What are the reasons given for the attempted censorship? That is, WHY does someone want to censor the subject?
What is the purpose of the attempt at censorship? Is it an attempt to control peoples’ thoughts and/or behaviors? To limit knowledge? To protect people? To deceive? To indoctrinate? To avoid controversy?
What effect (s) does the censorship (or attempted censorship) have on the people directly involved? On society as a whole?
What attempts, if any, have been made to counter/prevent the censorship or attempted censorship? Who is making these attempts? Have they been successful?
**Since this is a critical thinking course as well as a composition course, this assignment is going to require you to put your critical thinking skills, as well as your reading and writing skills, to significant use. Be sure to include specific quotes/examples from Bradbury’s text as well as from your secondary sources. Find a topic that truly interests you – perhaps one that even affects you directly. Most importantly, keep an open mind. J
**Since this is a critical thinking course as well as a composition course, this assignment is going to require you to put your critical thinking skills, as well as your reading and writing skills, to significant use. Be sure to include specific quotes/examples from Bradbury’s text as well as from your secondary sources. Find a topic that truly interests you – perhaps one that even affects you directly. Most importantly, keep an open mind. J
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