Why is the Tower of Babel referenced in Fahrenheit 451?

In the Bible's Old Testament, the "Tower of Babel" is a
structure that people build to try to reach heaven, so impressed are they with their
sense of power—to reach the realms of God. God causes these people to be unable to
communicate with each other. The project is then abandoned and the people
scatter.

" href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/babel">Babel," according to
Dictionary.com, is also a word that stands alone, alluding to the
Tower of Babel. It means:

a
confused mixture of sounds or voices,
or, a scene of noise and
confusion

This sense of "babel," as
well as the "Tower of Babel" are found in Fahrenheit 451, written
by Ray Bradbury. The Tower of Babel is referred to by Beatty, Montag's boss, as he
asserts that books are confusing, contradicting each other. (Ironically, Beatty
demonstrates a depth of knowledge that could only have come from books or speaking with
those who have read books: yet still he burns books. E.g., how does
Beatty know enough to even refer to the Tower of Babel, information which comes from a
book?)

Beatty references the Tower of Babel as he tries to reason
with the woman whose house and books they are
burning:

Where's your common sense? None of these
books agree with each other. You've been locked up here for years with a regular damned
Tower of Babel. Snap  out of it! The people in these books never lived. Come on
now!

However, the sense of "babel" in the story
would also allude to a deeper theme:
that the people of this community are not encouraged to share ideas, nor are they
encouraged to participate in the developing original thought. Their thoughts are
controlled: their ideas are manipulated in the direction in which the government wants
them to move.

When listening to Mildred and Montag speak, it is
indeed like he peopkle in the Bible who have no real basis of communication. It may be
mostly for this reason that Montag feels so disconnected from Mildred. For example,
Mildred is completely "brainwashed" in pouring over the telecasts from the three screens
in the living room. (People are encouraged to conform, and Mildred is happy to do so.)
Mildred describes a new show where the viewer can participate, however that
participation is nothing more than agreeing with the rhetoric provided in the
script—there is no room for interpretation or
questions.

'When it comes time for the missing
lines, they all look at me out of the three walls and I say the lines..."What do you
think of this whole idea, Helen?" And I say—' She paused and ran her finger under a line
on the script. 'I think that's fine!...' And then they go on with the play until he
says, 'Do you agree with that, Helen?' and I say, 'I sure do!.' Isn't that fun, Guy?" He
stood in the hall looking at her.

Mildred's "canned"
responses agree with what society is trying to impart in the "programming" presented in
these shows on the screens. Ask no questions; agree with the
propaganda. Guy cannot see any sense in this "entertainment," once again
providing an example of a "Tower of Babel" within this community, specifically in
Mildred and Guy's home.