The novel focuses on
two central themes:
1. CENSORSHIP
2. IGNORANCE OF
KNOWLEDGE
Dystopia: an imaginary state or
civilization in which true happiness is
impossible
• Often based on an author’s own
society
• Often set in the future, these
novels attempt to demonstrate
what would happen if negative
societal aspects were allowed to
flourish and take over society
CENSORSHIP:
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.
Why would something be censored?
What are the dangers of censorship?
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
we’re doing, we’ll be led to
do wrong.
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.
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.
Guy Montag is a fireman. It is not his job to
put out fires. It is his job to start them.
If a house is suspected to have books in it, Guy and
the other firemen properly dispose of them.
Most often, the whole house must be destroyed.
Sometimes the people in the house choose to die
with their books.
The problem is, Guy is not so comfortable with burning
books.
He wonders why
they must be
burned.
What power do they
have?
Why would
somebody choose to
die for their books?
It wouldn’t hurt
just to take one
and read it, right?
Unfortunately for Guy, he
live in a society where
censorship is king; a society
where you don’t know if
you can trust your friends,
or even your wife; a society
in which criminals are
tracked by relentless
mechanical hounds that
never fail to bring down
their victims….
Guy used to uphold
and enforce the law.
Bringing home a
book will cause a
chain of events that
not even he could
have anticipated…
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.
Books
• Meaning: knowledge & information
• Symbolizes the dangers of censorship &
possibility to intellectual freedom
Hearth
Part 1
• Fireplace
• Symbol of the shelter or warmth in a home
Salamander
Part 1
• In mythology, the salamander can live in
fire and is unaffected by flames
• The salamander is one of the official
symbols of the firemen as well as the name
of Montag’s fire truck
• The salamander can live his life in fire,
much the way Montag does
Fahrenheit 451
part 1
• The temperature at which books burn
• Symbolizes the disintegration
of Montag's society
• In essence, it's the
temperature at which
society burns
Phoenix
part 1
• The phoenix is a mythological
bird who bursts into flames at
death and rises from the
ashes born again
• The phoenix represents
Montag's spiritual rebirth,
society's attempt to rediscover
itself, and the cyclical nature of life.
Fire
Part 1
• Fire represents destruction, of books, of
people, of society (censorship)
• A force of nature that can be destructive or
beneficial
• Fire has a dual image in the book, a symbol
of destruction and a symbol of warmth
Mechanical
Hound
Part 1
Technology
1. The Mechanical Hound
• The dangers of technology and modernization
• The destructive nature of humanity
2. Television—“The Family”
• Represents the dangers of technology
& modernization
• People are so modernized that they
relate more to technology than people
3. Ear-bud Seashell
• Represents the dangers of technology
& modernization
• The one worn by Mildred—
represents an over reliance on technology
• The one worn by Montag—
represents the positive effects of technology
Sieve
Part 2
• “A sieve, or sifter, separates wanted elements
from unwanted material using a filter such as a
mesh or net.”
• A symbol for independent thought and
intellectual freedom
• The sieve (the human mind) seeks a truth that
remains elusive. The metaphor suggests,
impossible to grasp in any permanent way.
• Montag’s mind is a sieve
Sand
Part 2
• The materials sifted through by the sieve
• Represents material that Montag wants to
retain but cannot
• Montag’s brain filters out anything that
forces him to think—why he cannot retain
and process the information in books on
subway
River
• Baptizing, rebirth, cleansing into new life.
• Montag becomes a new person when he exits
the river
The novel was inspired by real life events that
impacted the author’s life:
”McCarthyism” – Fear of Communism
1950s lifestyle
Cold War
TIMELINE OF THE 1950s
1950
President Harry Truman
approves production of the
hydrogen bomb.
1952
Fashion, people and
society is very
conservative. People are
generally respectful of
each other, the
government, religion and
life.
1951
Television first broadcast
across the country.
1954
The U.S. Supreme Court
wrote in “Brown v. the
Board
of Education of Topeka,
Kansas” that racial
segregation in schools was
illegal.
TIMELINE OF THE 1950s
1954
U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy begins a televised anti-communist
witch-hunt. This became known as “McCarthyism”. Basically,
the Cold War revolved around the fact that:
The USA was a Democratic country where people could do
what they want, become rich and have freedoms.
The Soviet Republic (USSR) was Communist, which meant
people listened to the government, lived equally and shared
resources.
The United States declared Communism countries to be enemies.
The US government wanted everyone to think Communists were
evil so they spread around hate propaganda.
McCarthy accused random people he didn’t like of being
Communists, which basically ruined their lives.
TIMELINE OF THE 1950s
1956
Elvis Presley took
the music world by
storm with five #1
songs on the
Billboard Music
Chart.
Robert Noyce and
Jack Kilby invent the
microchip.
The first enclosed
mall called
Southdale opened in
Edina, Minnesota
1957
First British H-bomb
exploded at
Christmas Island.
First underground nuclear
test “Rainier” occurred at
the Nevada Test Site.
Britain’s first truly
successful thermonuclear
bomb test.
The Soviet Union
Launches the
Sputnik, the first artificial
satellite.
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….