Introduction to Fahrenheit 451

1. Introduction to Fahrenheit 451 By: Ray Bradbury

2. DYSTOPIA: The future through the eyes of fiction writers

3. What is a dystopia? • Dys = difficult, bad • Topia = place • In practical terms, a dystopia is a vision of the future that is bleak or dismal. It is also usually a cautionary tale, a story that warns us what could happen if certain trends continue.

4. Dystopian vs. Utopian Literature • Utopian literature describes an ideal imaginary world. The term comes from Thomas More’s Latin work Utopia, written in 1516. • Dystopian literature paints the opposite of the ideal world, a place that is highly unpleasant.

5. What should be private and what should be public? • One of the central questions of most dystopias is how much power a government should have on its citizens, and on what results when people in power abuse it or when the government becomes too powerful.

6. Some of the most famous dystopias: • 1984 - George Orwell’s grim vision of Big Brother and ultimate government control. • Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury’s vision of a world where books and ideas are dangerous, and firemen burn books instead of putting out fires. • Brave New World - Aldous Huxley’s vision of a world where genetics are manipulated and all people stay within their own class. The government is your parent! • A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubrick’s film about the ultimate acceptance of violence in a society. • The Island - a film where clones are farmed as spare parts for ‘real’ citizens. V for Vendetta - a film where the government has surpressed all dissent and controls all aspects of peoples’ lives.

7. Common elements: • Over-controlling government • A specific group that is outcast or oppressed • At least one individual who questions the system • An eventual attempt to revolt or overthrow the government

8. What happens when government has no checks and balances? When one person has all the power? When rights are taken away for the purpose of serving “the greater good” ?

9. Historical Context • Written in the 1950s • World War II (1939-1945) had just ended; the US had dropped the first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki • Bradbury was influenced by the book burnings of the Nazi regime in Germany during the 1930s • Political repression and dictatorship in Soviet Union and fascist Spain even after World War II when books were banned and intellectuals persecuted.

10. By 1949, communism had spread to Eastern Europe and China • After World War II, Europe & US versus Soviet Union in COLD WAR. The threat of nuclear war increased. • By mid-1950s, nearly 60% of Americans were members of the middle class; More $$$ to buy. Consumerism = Success

11. The electronics industry became the 5th largest industry. Television had a widespread impact in American homes • The US became an “automobile culture” in the 1950s. • The increase in prosperity after the war led to an increased passivity and conformity. Jobs were plentiful and the common adage of the time period was: “follow orders, you will succeed”. (ie. Montag at beginning).

12. Published during McCarthyism era • Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s hearings which investigated spread of communism through government infiltrators led to an atmosphere of fear and distrust in the US. • In the early years of filmmaking, censorship was allowed on the grounds that movies were entertainment and not an expression of free speech. • Sen. McCarthy’s hearings into the political background of artists led to the “blackballing” of several prominent Hollywood writers during the 1950s

13. In an essay in 1953, Bradbury commented: “Some nights, when the wind is right, the future smells of kerosene”.

14. In 1979, Bradbury discovered that his editors had censored language in 75 separate sections of Fahrenheit 451 without his knowledge or consent. “Students, reading the novel which, after all, deals with censorship and book-burning in the future, wrote to tell me of this exquisite irony”.

15. Now that you’ve seen Future Fright, write a 150+-word paragraph response to the movie. Discuss any thoughts or feelings it brings up, and also consider how it may relate to any current events that you are aware of.