FAHRENHEIT 451

1. FAHRENHEIT 451

2. Question • What do you think the biggest change in the world will be in fifty years? Will our lives be better or worse 50 years from now?

3. The Title • Note that the title derives from the temperature of burning paper- 451 degrees

4. Future Society • Montag lives in a society where books are destroyed to limit the amount of varied thought. What story is this similar to? • This became a common concern after WW II as authors were abhorred by book burnings of Nazi Germany. • Montag loves his job. He has bought into the way society works to the point that he loves his job. • It only in meeting Clarisse, a symbol of all things natural, that he begins to examine the shallowness of his life and society. • His marriage is passionless. Their house is an entertainment center where his wife spends all of her time and money.

5. A False Life • The popular form of entertainment is to act out of person in a soap opera- become someone you are not, enjoying all life’s blessings without any of the work or problems. • Note how close this is to modern video games- ex. The Sims.

6. Future Society • Bradbury writes a future where humans have separated themselves from the natural world, (trees, flowers, free thought) and find themselves going into dangerous extremes to find happiness. • How does this differ from Vonnegut’s world? • His wife tries to kill herself do the absence of substance in her life. • Montag barely cares. • Those who disagree with the current system are labeled as crazy or criminal.

7. Part 2 • The life Montag once thought was so great is unraveling around him. • His job is tarnished by the elderly woman who refuses to leave her house and allow them to destroy it in peace • Montag further explores how shallow his marriage has become, realizing that he cannot remember when they actually met. Mildred could care less. • Finally, Mildred tells Montag she believes that Clarisse died in a car wreck and that her family moved away.

8. Allusions • Ridley and Lattimer • Lattimer and Ridley were preachers of the new Church of England established by Henry VIII. However, when Mary took the throne, she demanded the country return to Catholicism. Ridley and Lattimer refused to honor the pope as much as God. They were burned at the stake. Unfortunately, the stake Ridley was placed was green and only burned the lower portion of his body. A bystander had to spread the fire to his head. Ridley watching the scene responded to it by saying, , "Be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out." • The words apply to the elderly woman burned in her home in two ways. First she was burned alive for her beliefs in a society that would not accept her. Second, she hopes her death will serve a light to the world that “shall never be put out.”

9. Allusions • “Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine.” • This line comes from the book Montag steals as burns down the elderly woman’s house. • It comes from an essay by Alexander Smith called “Dreamthorp” • “Dreamthorp” describes a place that is ripe with natural beauty. Lush trees hold ripened fruit as butterflies flap their wings slowly in the shade. Decaying castles add a picturesque history to the landscape. • In short, “Dreamthorp” is the exact opposite of the technologically reliant, industrial based society Montag lives in that moves so fast they only have speed minimums.

10. Allusions • Tower of Babel • Beatty claims the elderly woman exists in a Tower of Babel. • The Tower of Babel is a story form the Old Testament of a society that tried to reach heaven by building a tower. God was angered by their arrogance, and struck them all with different languages. • This explains Beatty’s statement that all the books disagree with each other.

11. PART THREE • Part three emphasizes the change that has come over Montag since the woman burned herself in her house. • Kerosene that once smelled like “perfume” to him now causes him to vomit. • He believes if books are important enough that people will die for them, then there must be “something to them.” • It also highlights the poor relationship that he has with his wife Midlred. • Mildred tells him he is not sick, and becomes angry with him when he vomits on the carpet. • She tells him he must go to work, so they can afford another T.V. wall. • When she finds his book, she almost reports him to Beatty immediately. • Montag believes that Mildred has a “second self”; one that is happy interacting with the “family” and one that is miserable with her shallow life. • At the end, Montag must beg Mildred to allow him to read books without turning him in.

12. PART THREE • Finally, Beatty provides a history of how society became so bad. • He claims it began after the Civil War, when things began to have “mass.” Books could be easily created, and began to lose their uniqueness. • Books were reduced to one page summaries of classics, comic books, trade manuals, and pornography • Many people stopped reading. Sports and other distractions took its place. • Then, people began to feel insecure around their neighbors that were still reading. • Furthermore, minorities across the country were upset by some of the topics covered in books. • Therefore, the government starting burning books to keep everyone happy. Since very few people read anyway, it was not stopped.

13. The Sieve and the Sand

14. PART ONE • The Sieve and the Sand, becomes a metaphor for society at the time. A sieve, with its many holes, can never be filled with sand as it runs out too quickly to be filled. • The same is true of American society in the book. They are so shallow and the things they use to fill their lives with is so meaningless that they are never full, never satisfied.

15. PART ONE • Allusion of Hercules and Anateus • Anateus was a giant, spawned by Mother Earth. As long as his feet rested on the earth he was invincible. Therefore, he would challenge a passerby to wrestle and eat them upon defeating them. • When he challenged Hercules, Hercules managed to lift him off the ground, separating him from his source of strength, and easily defeating him. • Faber claims this is how American society has become. We were once ground in morals, philosophy, and values. Now, we have built our society on distraction and ignorance, like building a garden on top of flowers.

16. PART ONE • Montag hopes versus Mildred’s fear • Mildred believes that it reading is not worth it, considering the firemen could burn up the “family” at books are not real. • Montag tells Mildred that he watched as paramedics pumped her stomach, so she must be miserable. Also, the U.S. has started and won two atomic wars since 1990. They must be repeating the same mistakes. Therefore, the rest of the world hates us because we distract ourselves while people all over the world die.

17. PART ONE • Faber • A retired English professor who Montag knows has access to books. • Told Montag “ I don’t talk things. I talk the meaning of things. I sit here and know that I am alive.” • Montag tells Faber that he has one of the view remaining copies of the Bible remaining. • Faber claims that books have a “quality” to show “the pores of life.” • Faber claims that we need “leisure” free from distraction to think about what the books have to tell us. • Finally, Faber claims people need the freedom to act on what books have to teach them.

18. PART ONE • The Plan • Montag suggests that they attempt to frame the firemen by placing books in their offices. However, Faber says that people starting behaving wildly long before the firemen. • Faber volunteers to make a copy of the Bible, and hope that when society falls apart from the atomic war, they will be able to teach the survivors.

19. PART ONE • The Allusion of the Book of Job • Job was a successful man, blessed with a large family, a thriving business, and extravagant wealth. • God points out that Job is one of his finest followers to which the Devil responds that it is easy to follow while God is so merciful. • Therefore, God allows the Devil to strip him of all of his blessings to see if he will still follow God. • Job’s wife dies. His sons are murdered. His workers are murdered. His cattle dies. He develops lesions. His fortune is lost. • Job’s four friends attempt to console Job to no avail, claiming that Job must have sinned against God, leading Job to curse the day he was born. • Throughout the process, Job remains loyal to God, and claiming his innocence of sin. • God appears and claims that he does not owe his creation anything, and his ways are higher than those of man. • At the end of the trial, Job is given double of what he had before. • It is relevant to Montag, as he is losing everything he has to be loyal to an idea in hopes that there is something better at the end.

20. PART TWO • The shallowness of society is examined in further detail • Clowns cutting off each other’s limbs • Women believing the war will only last 48 hours • The women claiming they are on their third marriage and have agreed not to shed any tears for their fallen husbands • The woman sees her children only one day out of ten • The women voted for their president based off how handsome and well spoken he is. Also his name is nicer is than that of Hubert

21. PART TWO • The Allusion of Dover Beach • Matthew Arnold’s poem is about how the “Sea of Faith” has retreated leaving a desolate, lonely world. • Arnold claim the world cares little for the people living on it, and the only thing the people have is each other. • The poem speaks against the women who live in an uncaring world and still care little for their husbands. • It also highlights how faith is slowly slipping from their world leaving nothing but emptiness and a loss of morals in its absence. • Finally, in their world, there are literally “ignorant armies clashing by night.”

22. PART TWO • Fire and Water pg. 103

23. PART TWO • “felt the guilt on his hands” and “gloved in blood” pg. 105 • From Macbeth • This is an allusion to Shakespeare’s tragedy, MacBeth. When Lady MacBeth learns of the prophesy that her husband, MacBeth, a general under King Duncan, is destined to become king himself, Lady MacBeth urges her husband to kill King Duncan. Despite his doubts, at his wife’s urging, MacBeth murders the king. A number of other murders committed by MacBeth follow. Eventually, Lady MacBeth’s conscience bothers her so much that she thinks her hands are stained with Duncan’s blood, and she tries to wash it off.

24. PART TWO • Beatty attacks books with books • “Sweet found of sweetly uttered knowledge” • Pope’s disagreeing words “A little learning is a dangerous thing” • “What traitors books can be. You think they are backing you up, and they can turn on you. Others can use them too. “ • Faber responds that the Captain “belongs to the most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom, the solid unmoving majority.: • In the end, Beatty drives him to his own house.

25. BURNING BRIGHT

26. PART ONE • Allusion to Icarus - , “Old Montag wanted to fly near the sun and now that he’s burnt his damn wings, he wonders why.” • The legend of Icarus begins in a prison with his father. In attempt to escape, the father and son take wings from passing birds and the wax from their candles and fashion wings to fly out of the windows. • Icarus is warned that if he flies too close to the sea the wings will get heavy and weigh him down. IF he flies too close to the sun, the wax will melt, and he will crash into the sea. • Icarus, entranced by the open sky and sun, soars high into the air, causing his wings to melt and his demise. • It is a myth about wanting too much and the dangers inherent in doing so. • Beatty accuses Montag of the same desire.

27. PART ONE • “For everyone nowadays knows, absolutely is certain, that nothing will ever happen to me.” • This arrogant attitude is a central theme of the book. • It is used to describe America’s ignorance and dismissal of the problems in the rest of the world. • It is used to describe Mildred inability to join her personalities together. • It is a statement how people ignore the problems of the rest of society, that everything is fine or distant, until the problem shows up on their doorstep. • Things such as this lead to “evil through inaction” and an overall lack of readiness. Example of the homeless man in NY, and “Boondock Saints”

28. PART ONE • The burning of Montag’s house • “He wanted to change everything” • The burning of his house is a symbol to the absolute change within himself. His wife and his house was his final attachment to society. • “Fire was the best for everything.” • “A great earthquake had come with the fire and levelled his house and Mildred was under there somewhere and his entire life was under and he could not move.” • “We never burned right.” • Beatty was the final attachment to his job and the system he helped perpetuate.

29. PART ONE • Other Notable Events • Montag’s realization that Beatty wanted to die- intentionally angering a man with a flame thrower • “War has been declared.” The mention of war has been mentioned in passing one line references. However, now that Montag has reached his own personal crisis, the war is fully declared. • Montag ends the section with enacting his plan to set up his former peers. Ironically, he calls in an alarm on the house of a Mr. Black.

30. PART TWO

31. THEMES AND SYMBOLS

32. THEMES • Distraction vs Happiness- the difference between being distracted from boredom and being truly happy. • Conformity vs Individuality- the difficulty of being an individual in a society where the population frowns on creative expression • Mass Media- is blamed for the ignorance in society and the spread of a lazy culture. • Censorship- the process by which the government and society at large can dictate what is acceptable to talk about • Action vs Inaction- Montag and Faber both regret not attempting to help society, but each realizes the importance of acting now. Remember the “evil of inaction” • Knowledge vs Ignorance- this is the quest of the Montag and Faber. It is the focus of the title Burning Bright. Yet, each person comes to the realization that people cannot be made to listen. • The System, The Machine- Society as a whole uses laws to support the values of the people. After a time, laws can be created in an attempt to keep alive a system that is no longer supported by the people or allows laws that are beneficial only to a small portion of society.

33. SYMBOLS • Fire- Multiple meanings- A destructive force of free thought. Later in the book, it is a warming force that brings people together and light to darkness • Phoenix- a mythical bird that builds its only funeral pyre every 600 years only to rise reborn from the ashes. It is a representation of the history of man and the fate of the city. • Hearth and Salamander- The hearth is a place where fire is collected. The salamander was believed to be immune to fire. It represents the free thought that rests in Montag that resists fire. • Blood- blood is taken as a representation of man’s soul and spirituality • The Sieve and the Sand- this image is used in connection with Montag attempting to memorize the Bible and the knowledge falling out of him without meaning.

34. SYMBOLS • Water- is used as a healing, one that hides Montag from the Hound and delivers him from the city. It is used in contrast to fire that is used as a destructive force. • Books/Birds- birds are compared to books to give more of a natural feel which is seen as a return to innocence in the book. It also shows the brutality of burning books. • Mirrors- mirrors are meant to represent seeing one’s true self. Most of the reflection comes off metals, windows, and darkened mirrors. • Mechanical Hound- the hound as a symbol of the uncaring end of human technology and the lethality it leads to • Stoneman and Black: firemen whose names suggest that the hardness of their hearts and the color of their skin and hair come from contact with smoke • Clarisse: her name comes from the Latin word for brightest;