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FAHRENHEIT 451

FAHRENHEIT 451. Ray Bradbury (1953). Overview. Set in a futuristic American City Sometime after 1990 Reading books is prohibited Everyone has equal knowledge/no doubts Technology entertains and distracts zombie-like citizens. Overview (cont.).

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FAHRENHEIT 451

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  1. FAHRENHEIT 451 Ray Bradbury (1953)

  2. Overview • Set in a futuristic American City • Sometime after 1990 • Reading books is prohibited • Everyone has equal knowledge/no doubts • Technology entertains and distracts zombie-like citizens

  3. Overview (cont.) • Firemen (like the main character, Guy Montag) • Burn books instead of put out fires • Function as censors (“custodians of … peace of mind”) • Montag begins to question the way things are and reads some of the books he’s supposed to burn…

  4. Background • Fahrenheit contains description of seemingly unimaginable technology and humanlike machines • Criticizes a society that no longer values and protects the right of free speech • Bradbury warns of the dangers when people stop reading and thinking and blindly accept government censorship

  5. Background (cont.) • Dystopian novel • Takes some elements from contemporary society and expands on them to warn against a future trend (paints a rather grim picture) • makes people think about the world in which they live and to see how the idea of happiness can be changed if society knows little else • In this case, government controls ideas, thinking and happiness

  6. Background (cont.) • Fahrenheit is Bradbury’s 1984 (George Orwell) • Depicts the miserable lives of people in a state where information is controlled and people are punished for questioning authority • However, Fahrenheit’s dystopia is outwardly better. People are content with their lives.

  7. By 1953… • Television had found its way into the majority of American homes • Observers worried about a decrease in reading and “dumbing-down” of the general population • In Fahrenheit, TV has become a sort of religion • Of course, the government controls it.

  8. Top 10 Banned Books of the 20th Century • #1 - 1984 • #2 - Ulysses • #3 - Naked Lunch • #4 - Tropic of Cancer • #5 - The Catcher in the Rye • #6 - Fahrenheit 451 • #7 - To Kill a Mockingbird • #8 - Slaughterhouse-Five • #9 - Lady Chatterley's Lover • #10 - The Grapes of Wrath

  9. Why was Fahrenheit banned? • Occasional bad language • One of the books burned is a Bible and some took the position that the author advocated burning Bibles (rather than the opposite … he was trying to show how bad things had become) • Like the opposition to "1984", the opposition to "Fahrenheit 451" seems to grow as the depicted society grows too similar to our own.

  10. Characters • Guy Montag • 30 yr. old fireman who realizes his life is empty and attempts to find meaning in books • Mildred Montag • Montag’s sickly wife who uses painkillers and TV to avoid her own problems • Clarisse McClellan • 17 yr. old girl who teaches Montag to appreciate beauty and question the world around him

  11. Characters (cont.) • Captain Beatty • Captain of fire department who is well-read but hates books, notices Montag’s change • Professor Faber • Retired cowardly English professor who helps Montag carry out his plan • Granger • Leader of the book people who has a plan to preserve literature

  12. Characters (cont.) • Mrs. Phelps • One of Mildred’s zombie-like friends who seems unconcerned that her husband is fighting in the war • Mrs. Bowles • Another of Mildred’s friends who leads an empty life and doesn’t care that she has lost three husbands and her kids hate her • Stoneman and Black • Other firemen who perform their duties without question

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