1 / 23

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451. An Introduction. Historical Context. World War II had ended only a few years before Era of McCarthyism Threat of nuclear warfare loomed Many Sci-Fi books and movies reflected this fear. Predict or Prevent?. Bradbury claimed he was trying to “prevent the future”.

sef
Download Presentation

Fahrenheit 451

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Fahrenheit 451 An Introduction

  2. Historical Context • World War II had ended only a few years before • Era of McCarthyism • Threat of nuclear warfare loomed • Many Sci-Fi books and movies reflected this fear

  3. Predict or Prevent? • Bradbury claimed he was trying to “prevent the future”. • He did foresee many future developments: • Walkmans, earbuds, big-screen and interactive t.v., rise in violence, growing illiteracy, condensation of info into “sound bites”

  4. Settings • Historical Setting • Physical Setting • Social Setting

  5. Themes To Watch For • Individual self-expression is important. • Violence is self-destructive. • Mindless pleasure seeking and materialism make for an empty life. • Humanity should preserve and value the culture of the past.

  6. More Themes • Humanity has the ability to be reborn or revived. • In the wrong hands, modern technology can be dangerous. • Commercialism can erode spiritual values. • People lose their humanity when not able to communicate and interact with each other on a personal level.

  7. Symbols To Investigate • Fire • Burning • Water • The salamander • The Mechanical Hound • Seashells • Parlor Walls • Titles of each section

  8. Names • Guy Montag • Guy Fawkes? • Name of a paper company • Clarisse • Form of Clara, from the Latin for “bright” • Clarisse is often associated with a brightness different from that of a fire • Faber • Name of a pencil company

  9. Fire Imagery • Many cultures have gods associated with fire • Egyptian goddess Sekhet • Many myths try to explain the origin • Greek myth about Prometheus stealing fire from the gods • Scientists used to believe all matter was made of the 4 elements: fire, earth, water, & air

  10. Connections & Background Info: The Hearth and the Salamander • Ben Franklin helped organize America’s first fire company and founded its first circulating library. • Franklin was also a writer and printer who believed in free speech and press.

  11. Connections & Background Info: The Hearth and the Salamander • Dante: Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet who wrote The Divine Comedy • Jonthan Swift: Author of Gulliver’s Travels • Marcus Aurelius: Roman philosopher and emperor • Hamlet: You know this one! • Little Black Sambo: children’s book with racial stereotypes that are offensive • Uncle Tom’s Cabin: novel that condemns slavery

  12. Section II The Sieve and the Sand

  13. Connections & Background Info: The Sieve and the Sand Authors mentioned by Montag: • Thomas Jefferson • Henry David Thoreau: author of famous essay on civil disobedience, and Walden.

  14. Henry David Thoreau • Civil Disobedience (Resistance to Civil Government) is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. • It argues that people should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that people have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. • Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican/American War. • Walden • The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, and manual for self reliance • He hoped to isolate himself from society to gain a more objective understanding of it • Simple living, self-reliance, • Transcendentalist.

  15. Connections & Background Info: The Sieve and the Sand Texts: • “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold -Reflects a personal sense of isolation and doubt. Montag does not read aloud the first two stanzas.

  16. Connections & Background Info: The Sieve and the Sand Texts: • The Bible: • Montag attempts to read a portion of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount that criticizes materialism. • Another character reads to Montag from the Book of Job, about a man whose faith is tested by a series of great calamities. • The Bible has often been a target of censorship. • When the New Testament was 1st transalted into English by William Tyndale, copies were seized and burned. (He was also burned at the stake as a heretic.)

  17. Connections & Background Info: The Sieve and the Sand Beatty’s Quotes and Paraphrases: • Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice • “Truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long.” • “He doth nothing but talk of his horse.” • “The Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.”

  18. Section III Burning Bright

  19. Connections & Background Info: Burning Bright William Blake’s “The Tyger” • Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

  20. Connections & Background Info: Burning Bright • “Old Montag wanted to fly near the Sun and ... he's burned his wings” • Daedalus and Icarus

  21. Connections & Background Info: Burning Bright • “You think you can walk on water” • There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, for I am arm’d so strong in honesty that they pass by me as an idle wind, which I respect not” • Julius Caesar, IV, iii

  22. Connections & Background Info: Burning Bright • Thomas Hardy: British novelist & poet • Charles Darwin: Survival of the fittest • Aristophanes: Ancient Greek playwright

  23. Connections & Background Info: Burning Bright • “Mr. Lincoln”: yes, it’s Abraham Lincoln • Machiavelli: The Prince • The Phoenix

More Related