Fahrenheit 451

1. Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

2. 451 degrees Fahrenheit The temperature at which paper catches fire . . .

3. What is F451? • Social Criticism –dangers of suppressing thought. • Science fiction: dangers of an oppressive government. • “Dystopia” – Opposite of “utopia.” • Ironically, “F451” – a message against censorship – has often been censored. • Since 1951: consistently ranked in top 100 works of American Literature.

4. Who are the Firemen?

5. Similarities with our society • High tech, somewhat violent, busy, fast-paced. • Clarisse notices how fast people drive: “If you showed a driver a green blur, he’d say, ‘that’s grass!’ A pink blur, ‘a rose garden!’ My uncle drove slowly once. He drove 40 miles an hour and they jailed him for two days.”

6. Similarities . . . continued • Clarisse also notices how violent young people are: “Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks. I’m afraid of them and they don’t like me because I’m afraid.” • Clarisse’s story highlights how careless we are of others, especially those who choose to be different.

7. Connections to Today • Today, the FBI has a “Library Awareness Program” that recruits librarians to monitor suspicious library users and report their reading habits to the FBI. • The Patriot Act (established after September 11, 2001) allows the FBI to investigate “suspicious” activity.

8. Predictions Bradbury made that are somewhat true today • Live television broadcasts of police pursuits (aided by helicopter-mounted cameras and supplemented by voice-over commentary by announcers) • "Seashell radios" closely resemble portable audio players. • Superficial topics on TV

9. Predictions • “Objectionable” books have been burned (literally!) and symbolically burned (banned or challenged) in the United States. • Anti-depressant pills = common and commercialized. • Abortion becomes a form of birth control. • Political Correctness. • Front porches and parks are becoming less common due to urbanization and lack of space and use.

10. F451 and Technology • Dangers of technology and mass entertainment, over ideas and independent thought. • In F451, society has abandoned books in favor of hollow entertainment and instant gratification. • During the time Bradbury wrote this book, American television was filled with cookie-cutter sitcoms, predictable westerns and dramas, and game shows. It was a diversion only. • The writer T.S. Eliot said: “Television permits millions of people to laugh at the same joke, but everyone still feels lonely.”

11. Symbolism • Books: represent ideas. What if we permit books to be removed from our society? • The Salamander: can endure fire without buring. Symbolic of Montag. • The Phoenix: mythological bird that can never truly die. Symbolizes rebirth and destruction by fire and the cyclical nature of things. • Firemen wear the Phoenix on their uniforms.

12. Contradictions (dualism) • Fire and books have both good and negative meanings. • For example: by day, Montag burns books, but he is guilty of secretly reading novels. • Fire has two conflicting properties: it destroys dangerous possessions but it also preserves people (providing heat and light)

13. Main Characters • Montag: The protagonist. A “fireman.” • Mildred: Shallow and not intellectual. Represents what Montag now despises. • Clarisse: Mildred’s foil. • Captain Beatty: Antagonist. • The Hound: Technology gone too far. • The Old Woman: Martyr. Her final act gets Montag thinking.

14. What is Science Fiction? • Impact of science on society (or individuals). • Often plausible • Political commentary. • A common theme is an ultra-restrictive form of government, making people and their ideas essentially useless. • Post-WWII • Fear of Atomic War

15. Science Fiction • Science Fiction in the 1950s – Movies and Books • “The Illustrated Man” by Ray Bradbury: a story of what happens when tattoos come alive while the host body is asleep • “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding: a cautionary story about civilization run amok • “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

16. Key Theme: Censorship • Books are burned because they present ideas, which might trigger discontent. • In this novel, it is not the government that began censoring, it was the people themselves. People were discontent, so the government removed the sources of their unhappiness. The government gave them other things to think about. • According to Beatty: “Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord . . .”

17. Censorship of this novel • The book was originally published in 1953, but published a special edition in 1967 for high school students. • The book has been frequently challenged by school districts. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials. “Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.” – Justice Potter Stewart (1970s)

18. Censorship Today:Other frequently challenged books • Beloved by Toni Morrison • Harry Potter (the entire series) • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • Moby Dick by Herman Melville • Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee • Anne Frank: the diary of a young girl by Anne Frank