Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451

Born in Waukegan, IL on August 22, 1920Author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, lecturer,

poet and visionary Moved to Los Angeles, CA in 1934Formal education ended with HS graduation in 1938Could not enlist due to vision problemsFull-time writer by 1943 Published 30 books, approx. 600 short stories and

numerous poems, essays, screenplays, and playsDied in Los Angeles on June 5, 2012 at 91 years of

age

Author Background

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

Fahrenheit 451Martian ChroniclesSomething Wicked this Way ComesDandelion Wine (some NPHS teachers cover

this)Stories you have read:

“All Summer in a Day”“There Will Come Soft Rains”

Popular Works

Fahrenheit 451

Published in 1953Written on pay-by-the-hour typewriters in the

UCLA libraryFollows other futuristic, dystopian novels,

such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

Dystopian novel set in futuristic AmericaTackles issues of conformity, censorship and

advancements in technology

Fahrenheit 451

Set in a future in which a totalitarian government has banned the written word

Firemen no longer put out fires, they start them

Protagonist: MontagFireman/book burnerWhen story opens, he enjoys his jobBegins to question his dutiesBegins to learn about the world before book

burning Tries to fight the systemRuns for his life

Fahrenheit 451: The Gist

451 degrees Fahrenheit: the temperature at which paper combusts and continues to burn of its own accord

Utopia: the perfect societyDystopia: opposite of utopia—a society in which

everything is all wrong and horrible Phoenix: mythical bird characterized by its gold

and red plumage; ignites into flames and is reborn from its own ashes

Salamander: amphibian that makes its home in fires (mythology)

Fahrenheit 451: Important Terminology

McCarthyism—period of anti-communism in U.S.Led to witch hunts seeking communistsGovernment banned access to books, newspapers

and magazines deemed anti-American WWII—

Nazi’s burn books in Hitler’s GermanyBombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Censorship—Use of government power to control speech and

other forms of human expression

Fahrenheit 451: Societal Focuses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot7T5YTgj6

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http

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sMIfoWxTgM

Book Trailers