Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

ISBN: 9780345342966
Publisher: Ballantine Books (1951)
190 p.

Reading Level: Adult (crossover).

Summary:

In the not-too-distant future, Montag is a fireman who sets fires instead of putting them out. His job, and he’s very good at it, is to set fires to homes that contain the illegal contraband of books. He meets a beautiful and young new neighbor, Clarisse, who speaks to him of thoughts, feelings, and ideas that turn his world upside-down. Mildred, Montag’s wife, is only content when she is in the parlor with the TV walls that showcase “the family.” In this era, television shows are programmed with an added dimension that a person in a home can participate with a script. Mildred spends her days with the televised walls or listening to indistinct chattering through ear buds. Montag is more and more attracted to Clarisse’s ideology until one day she is not there. His fire captain has words to share with him, and Montag embarks on the journey of his lifetime.

Critical Evaluation:

This novel is taught throughout high schools and colleges for its pervasive themes and motifs. Montag’s strain is evident when he speaks with Clarisse. Although he longs for such human contact, he knows it is not safe. The foreshadowing of his fear of the mechanical dog and his discreet glances toward the ventilator shaft alert the reader that trouble is coming. The main themes of the novel are those of knowledge and ignorance and which is better, as well as the realization that words can not only uplift and heal and give hope, but can be twisted and bent into hatred and evil as with the Captain. The book banning and burning of books and the homes of those who conceal them show the censorship that runs rampant in the near future unless men like Montag and the professor as well as the others he meets at the end rise up to fight and teach. Bradbury sums it up best when he writes, “Here is the love affair of a writer with the stacks; of a sad man, Montag, and his love affair not with the girl next door, but a knapsack of books. What a romance this is!” (Foreword, p. 10).

 

Reader’s Annotation:

“Books are flesh and blood ideas and cry out silently when put to the torch.”
(Bradbury, 1951, book jacket). Only by reading and learning from the past
can humanity hope not to repeat all its mistakes.

Author Biography:

Ray Bradbury was born in Illinois in 1920. On his 21st birthday, he published his first story in a science fiction magazine. Since the, he has written over 30 books, as well as works for theatre and film, such as the screenplay for John Houston’s Moby Dick. He’s been awarded countless awards such as the National Book Foundation’s 2000 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the National Medal of Arts in 2004, as well as being nominated for an Academy Award.

Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in the basement of the UCLA library back when they charged ten cents per period of time to type in a room full of typewriters. As he said, Montag showed up in his typewriter, awaiting birth. ‘“Go,” I said to Montag, thrusting another dime into the machine, “and live your life, changing it as you go. I’ll run after.”

Montag ran. I followed.
Montag’s novel is here.
I am grateful that he wrote it for me.” (Foreword, p. 11).

Genre: Science Fiction

Curriculum Ties:

This is a perfect English studies novel to study. It is full of vivid motifs, symbols, and imagery that may inspire yet another teen to take up the art of reading. Bradbury has influenced many an author and reader. This novel and others have been studied in English classes all across America, and there’s no reason to stop now.
This is truly a classic novel that should be read by all.

Booktalking Ideas:

-How does Clarisse change Montag? Why is she not afraid of him as others are?

-Why is the mechanical hound so foreboding?

-What is Captain Beatty’s role in this novel? What is Mildred’s?

-Discuss what Granger says at the end of the novel. “We’re going to go build a mirror factory first
and put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them.” (p. 189).

Read-Alikes:

-Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

-The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

-1984 by George Orwell.

-Neuromancer by William Gibson.

-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

-Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.

Challenge Issue:

There have been challenges to the language used, mild profanity, as well as the religious right crying out that there are Bibles being burned in the course of the novel. I would ask whoever makes such a statement to please read the book, for this shows they haven’t. Bradbury is against the suppression of the freedom to read and of expression. He is not condoning book burning, but the polar opposite. He believes that reading has suffered a blow with all the mindless television out there, as well as how government should not suppress any freedoms. This was written before and during the time of McCarthyism and, although he did not have Senator Joseph McCarthy in mind when writing this novel, he did have Hitler’s regime and the horrors of WWII in his thoughts when creating one of the world’s true classics.

Reason to include in blog:

Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite authors and everyone, young and old, should be introduced to his literature. Bradbury has influenced American literature for over 50 years. His novels are cherished by millions, as well as having inspired many others to write. He is one of America’s greatest treasures.

References:

Bradbury, R. (1951). Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine Books.