Fahrenheit 451

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Fahrenheit 451

• Ray Bradbury

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Ray Bradbury

• Born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, IL
• Began writing own stories by age 11
• No formal writing education
• Sold newspapers to make ends meet
• Began writing science fiction for TV, movies and
  eventually novels
• The Martian Chronicles (1950)
• established him as a leading writer of
  science-fiction
• Received many awards for writing

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Birth of Fahrenheit 451

• Wrote F451 on a pay-by-the-hour typewriter in
  basement of UCLA library
• Wrote first draft in 9 days
• Initially called The Fireman
• Shaped similarly to George Orwells
  science-fiction (dystopia dangerous future)
• Published in 1953
• Most popular and read work of fiction

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Characters

• Guy Montag-fireman, main character
• Mildred Montag-Guys depressed wife
• Captain Beatty-Fireman captain
• Professor Faber-Professor of English
• Clarisse McClellan-17-year old societal outcast
• Granger-leader of Book People
• Mrs. Phelps Mrs. Bowles-Mildreds friends
• Stoneman and Black-firemen

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Themes

• Censorship
• Books that are forbidden to be read for various
  reasons
• Knowledge versus Ignorance
• Firemen destroy knowledge to protect ignorance
• Relationship between humanity and happiness
• Without maintaining human nature, mankind
  struggles

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Motifs

• Paradoxes
• Questioning the reality of beings
• Animal and Nature imagery
• Force of innocence and truth
• Religion
• Several biblical allusions that suggest how much
  people desire to have a sense of truth

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Symbols

• Blood
• repressing human soul
• The Hearth and the Salamander
• the problem between the idea of a home and the
  job of the firemen
• The Sieve and the Sand
• Impossibility of grasping the truth
• Phoenix
• Rebirth after destruction
• Mirrors
• Self-understanding