INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL

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INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
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Ray Bradbury (born 1920)

• Popular American author
• Concerned with emerging technologies and their
  abilities to dehumanize or depersonalize modern
  life
• Did not attend college and managed to stay out
  of WWII because of poor eyesight
• Instead joined a Science Fantasy Society and
  began publishing short stories

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• Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451 is a type of
  DYSTOPIC novel. That means it is about a future
  that is bleak, dark and dreary.
• The novel focuses on two central themes
• CENSORSHIP
• IGNORANCE OF KNOWLEDGE

Read on to discover what Fahrenheit 451 is all
about
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CENSORSHIP is the suppression of speech or
deletion of communicative material which may be
considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or
inconvenient to the government or media
organizations as determined by a
censor. (Wikipedia) ?Why would something be
censored? ?What are the dangers of censorship?
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IGNORANCE OF KNOWLEDGE Bradbury focuses on the
importance of learning and how it impacts our
ability to make decisions. He believes that
without the ability to think about what were
doing, well be led to do wrong.
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The novel was written by Ray Bradbury, a
celebrated science fiction writer. It began as a
short story in 1951 and evolved into a novel by
1953. The novel was written a time when the world
was threatened by nuclear war, new technologies
were emerging and the world was getting smaller.
Read on to discover what Fahrenheit 451 is all
about
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It is the 24th century. Books are considered
dangerous and illegal. Nobody is allowed to own
them. Most people are happy being plugged into
their technology, where they do not have to think
too hard. All books that are found are burned.
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Now here is some irony Fahrenheit 451 is a book
about the dangers of censorship. Yet this book
itself has been the object of censorship. It has
been banned and/or challenged in many places
across the United States. Why might other books
or types of media be censored? It is the practice
of keeping material from being viewed by others
because of objectionable or offensive
material. What does it mean for a book to be
banned or challenged? It means that somebody was
offended by something in the book and demanded
that it be removed from shelves in libraries,
bookstores, etc.
Not all books that are challenged in this way are
banned, but some are. It depends on the
community, and their policies on censorship.
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The novel was inspired by real life events that
impacted the authors life ?McCarthyism Fear
of Communism ?1950s lifestyle ?Cold War
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THE WORLD WAS GOING CRAZY.
As the 1950s and the Cold War progressed Ray
Bradbury saw the government taking a great deal
of power over the people and this worried
him. ?How could a government with too much power
be dangerous?
Ray Bradbury saw the world changing quickly and
dangerously so this is why he wrote Fahrenheit
451 to warn people of what would happen if
society continued down what he believed was a
dangerous path.