Ray Bradbury’s FAHRENHEIT 451

What? Where? When? Who?

Why?

WHAT?Reading bannedFirefighters burn booksCensorshipConformity Imagination repressedTechnology advanced

WHERE? In a violent and hedonistic

future America In the city

*hedonistic means self-indulgent

WHEN? In the not-so-distant future?Written over 50 years agoBased on “The Fireman”

which was published in 1950

WHO?Guy MontagHis wife, MildredClarisse McClellan, a teenCaptain BeattyProfessor Faber

WHY?Hatred of thought

investigation/thought control Mary Bradbury, tried in 17th

century Salem Witch TrialsMcCarthyismBlack ListingBook Banning

FACT – FACT – FACT – FACT 1953 Ballantine Books publish

F451 1967 Special Edition for schools

Modified 75 passages to eliminatewords like “hell,” “damn,” and “abortion”

1980 Bradbury’s friend informs himBallantine withdrew version

AGREE?“Censorship reflects a

society’s lack of confidence in itself.”

Potter Stewart/Associate Justice of the Supreme

Court (1915-1985)

FACT – FACT – FACT – FACT

LATE 1950’S American television - cookie-cutter sitcoms, predictable westerns, and violent dramas.Critics howled, but viewership continued to rise

AGREE? Television is

“…a really dreadful influence on all of us. Don’t ever look at local television news again. It’s all crap. There’s no news, there’s no information. It’s negative, negative, negative. You look at that, and you think the world is coming to an end.” Bradbury 1990

AGREE?Television is very dangerous.

Because it repeats and repeats and repeats our disasters instead of our

triumphs.”Bradbury 1990

Three Sections“The Hearth and the

Salamander”“The Sieve and the Sand”“Burning Bright”

SymbolsThe title refers to the

temperature at which books burn.

Salamander – mythological lizard capable of living in fire

Phoenix – mythological bird reborn from fire

Themesconformity vs. individualityFreedom of speech and the

consequences of using it importance of reading and

understanding historyMachines – help us or hinder

us

Critical Issues Censorship – the suppression of a

book, movie, etc. considered offensive or a threat to security

A story about how television destroys interest in reading literature.

Why might censorship be imposed?

to protect the public to protect our children’s

growth and development religious beliefs to be fair to minorities