Fahrenheit 451 Forum

Can anyone help me with this? I need to know the type of Government that was represented, how the citizens were involved in the government, and how society was influenced and shaped. Any amount of help is appreciated.

The Government was related to democarcy, especially America.

It is a democracy. You can tell that it is a democracy when Mildred, Mrs. Phelps, and Mrs. Bowles are talking about politics and who to choose. They all favor the handsome tall guy named Winston Noble over the fat short ugly guy named Hubert Hoag. They focus on what’s on the outside not the inside. That’s not the point though. The point is that the women are voting for someone so it is a democracy. It doesn't say how society was influenced and shaped. All I can say is that it must have taken a long time to refine this society where books are bad and you must just sit and watch the parlor all day. Many generations of kids had to be taught this. Yet Faber says he was there when it happened and he was to shy to say stop, so it mustn’t have been too long.

To me the people aren't that involved in their government. The government does a very good job of making it seem like they are involved but truly they aren't. Like Annie said i believe it is a democracy, because the women were discussing whom they were going to vote for as president. I also believe that although its a democracy the people aren't aware of how the government is being run. The government hides books from the people to keep knowledge hidden.They don't want the people to become inspirational by books.They want the people to be easy to manage.They don't want the people to be influenced by books. Books will let the people know and understand the past, and how different it used to be. Therefore the government doesn't inform the people. The government only provides the people with specific information. By letting the people vote for whom they want to be president makes the people believe they are involved. They make it seem like a democracy, but at the same time it is like a totalitarianism country. For example in a totalitarianism country the government keeps all information that they don't want their people to know about hidden! They keep information from other countries kept away. They make the people think that this is how the world is run everywhere. They tell the people hardly anything. The people are limited on what they know with totalitarianism. Meaning the government has all powers. I believe the government wants the people to feel like there opinions are valued but really the government is keeping lots of information from the people.

In the novel, I believe the government is just a front. All we see it doing is perhaps making decisions on the leading of the country. I see more of a governmental role in the firemen than the central government itself. The firemen are enforcing the government's rules. It doesn't seem like the people are as afraid of the government itself, but more the firemen who are actually burning the books.
If they really had a vote, I doubt the people would vote for anyone who supported the burning of books...BUT maybe the society was so used to it that there were no other options. The main role of a government is to serve the people and I don't see that in the novel. I feel like the government is doing an inside job and just trying to avoid free speech and expression. So if you had to classify their government, I would say it is a limited democracy but it's not that similar to the U.S. democratic republic.