Fahrenheit 451

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Fahrenheit 451

• Ray Bradbury

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Conflicts

• An external conflict between Montag, who rejects
  book burning, and the fire captain, who defends
  it
• Montags internal conflict between accepting the
  new worldone of violence and conformityand
  wanting to return to the way things were in the
  pastgentler, with room for different ideas

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Bradburys Satire

• Satire The use of irony/sarcasm/ridicule to
  criticize faults
• Some societal faults Bradbury satirizes in F451
• Technology
• Mass media
• Organized sports
• High-speed automobiles

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Other important terms

• Dystopia an imaginary place or state in which
  the condition of life is extremely bad, as from
  oppression and/or terror.
• Censorship the suppression of what is thought to
  be dangerous or offensive.

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Symbols

• The numbers 451 the temperature at which paper
  will burn
• Fire seen as a destructive force in the
  beginning and a way to be warm in the end.
• The mechanical hound symbolizes destructive
  technology that is not easily destroyed.
  Demonstrates why people are better than machines
  to Bradbury

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• The salamander represents the destructive forces
  of fire. Mythological lizard born from the fire.
  Name of the fire trucks that carry kerosene not
  water.
• The phoenix in this myth, fire is a source of
  renewal/rebirthmythological bird burns and rises
  out of the ashes. Contrast to the salamander. The
  symbol of a Phoenix is used throughout the novel.
  uniforms and
• Beatty drives a Phoenix car. Montag, after
  realizing that fire has destroyed him, wishes to
  be reborn.

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Themes

• Life is meaningless in a controlled society in
  which everyone is alike and imagination is
  repressed
• Technology can isolate people and inhibit the
  sharing of thoughts, ideas, and emotions.
• Without knowledge, a civilization dies or kills
  itself

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Connection to PlatosAllegory of the Cave
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Platos cave

• Prisoners are there since childhood it is all
  they know
• They can only see shadows, and the images are
  real to them
• The people are chained, they cannot leave or move
• Fire is a source of light behind them, it casts
  the shadows

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Montags cave

• His grandfather and father were firemen, it is
  expected of him.
• His world of burning is all he knows
• What are his chains? Mildred, Beatty, and the
  media try to hold him back
• Fire is at 1st a source of pleasure and
  destruction. It casts the shadows of Montags
  happiness.

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If a prisoner is released
He will have an instructor to guide him.
Other prisoners will think he is crazy, and want
to harm him.
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When Montag is released
He has Clarisse and Faber to guide him.
Mildred and Beatty think he is crazy, and want to
harm him.
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Other important similarities

• Plato refers to the intense confusion of the
  released prisoner
• Plato mentions the use of reflection when the
  prisoner is outside the cave. He will see
  himself and objects first through reflection,
  then he can see the true realities.

• Montag spends most of the novel in a state of
  confusion
• Bradbury mentions mirrors often as a symbol.
  Clarisse reflects Montags reality, then Granger
  says they will build a mirror factory to rebuild
  society.

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What is real?

• Plato says reality is that we are prisoners, and
  we must seek enlightenment through searching.
• We should not believe our eyes or the physical
  world, because they can be wrong.
• What does Bradbury say? What is his message or
  theme about reality?

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Historical Context

• Book burnings of the Nazi regime
• Stalins suppression of authors and books in the
  Soviet Union
• The consequences of an explosion of a nuclear
  weapon (atom bomb)
• Censorship in the McCarthy era

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Book Burning

• Adolf Hitler in Germany and Josef Stalin in the
  Soviet Union had used book-burning demonstrations
  to rally supporters and intimidate those with
  opposing views.
• Authors had been suppressed through
  state-directed writers' organizations.
• Persistent writers with challenging views were
  thrown into jails or exiled.

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Nazi Book Burning
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Literary Devices Review!

• I Remember the newspaper dying like huge moths.
• Montag discovers that the house he is about to
  burn is his own.
• Denhams Dandy Dental Detergent, Denhams
  Dentifrice
• Job of firemen in Montags society

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Study for your test!

• Literary devices
• General plot
• Symbolism
• Characterization
• Satire
• Themes
• Historical connection
• Dystopia/censorship
• Connections to Allegory of the Cave