Fahrenheit 451-Entry1: Themes

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What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?

The most important theme in Fahrenheit 451 is censorship. The government banned book in Fahrenheit 451 because of various reasons. First, people like entertainments such as televisions better than reading hundreds of pages of stories. Televisions surely do attract people’s attention because they don’t have to think when they are watching television. I believe that most of the teenagers today will choose television over books. Second reason mentioned in the book is that books are offensive materials. For example, the ideas might differentiate in race, religion, and gender. In the book, Beatty mentioned different points of views on cat-lovers and dog-lovers.
This theme is significant to teenagers in 2007 because as the time pass, people tend to prefer technology than what we originally have like books. Many of my friends read books online on the computer. They think that paper book is unnecessary because it’s available in our modern technology, internet. Some of my friends just prefer televisions over books. Just like the characters in Fahrenheit 451, soon technologies will over come our lives in a way that make our lives simpler and easier. I also believe that there are anti-fans of the books meaning that not all the people agree with all the authors’ ideas. Since we have freedom of speech, we will have criticism, racism, and sexism in some of the books. Would they last long? What would the government do if they found out about all the criticism that people has toward them? Would they ban the books? It might be unbelievable, but it could happen. Teenagers should be aware of the consequences of having and not having books and consider them seriously. Knowledge or ignorance? It’s your choice.