FAHRENHEIT 451
by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451
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Novel of the Future
Censorship Gone Wild
Modern Classic (Brave New World, 1984)
Published 1953
Ominous Warning about the Future of Nonreaders and Non-thinkers
Role of Government?
Equality? Does equal mean the same?
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“If they give you ruled paper, write the
other way.” Juan Ramon Jimenez
The Hearth and the Salamander
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“ . . . There was no longer need of firemen
for the old purposes. They were given the
new job, as custodians of our peace of
mind, the focus of our understandable and
rightful dread of being inferior: official
censors, judges, and executors.”
(Bradbury 59)
Equality! Happiness! Peace!
“ . . .we can’t have our minorities upset
and stirred. . .What do we want in this
country, above all? People want to be
happy, isn’t that right? . . .That’s all we live
for, isn’t it?” (Bradbury 59)
 “Give the people contests . . .Cram them
full of facts . . .entertainment.” (Bradbury
61)
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“Have reason to suspect . . .”
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(Bradbury 36)
The Sieve and the Sand
“The magic is only what the books say,
how they stitched the patches of the
universe together into one garment for
us.”
 “Do you why books such as this are so
important? Because they have quality. . .
This book has pores. It has features. This
book can go under the microscope.”
(Bradbury 83)
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“Dover Beach” Matthew Arnold
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“’Ah, love, let us be true/ To one another!
for the world, which seems/ To lie before
us like a land of dreams,/ So various, so
beautiful, so new,/ Hath really neither joy,
nor love, nor light,/ Nor certitude, nor
peace, nor help for pain;/ And we are here
as on a darkling plain . . .” (Bradbury 100)
Burning Bright
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“And on either side of the river was a tree of
life . . .And the leaves of the tree were for the
healing of the nations.” (Bradbury 165)
A Note on Censorship
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“Whether or not my ideas on censorship
via the fire department will be old hat by
this time next week, I dare not predict.
When the wind is right, a faint odor of
kerosene is exhaled from Senator
McCarthy.”
Ray Bradbury
Censorship and
Senator Joe McCarthy
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“Censorship was a real and frightening
concern in the U.S. when Fahrenheit 451
came out in 1953 during the height of the
career of Joseph McCarthy, the U.S. Senator
from Wisconsin whose unfounded
accusations of a Communist-infiltrated
Department of State led to suppression of
information and the propagation of
falsehoods and fears . . .”
(Random House Publishers)
“If they give you ruled paper . . .”
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
 The American Heritage Dictionary
 Bambi
 Brave New World
 Catch 22
 Catcher in the Rye
 Fahrenheit 451
 Forever
 Flowers in the Attic
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Grapes of Wrath
 Harry Potter (all)
 Lord of the Flies
 Etc. Banned Books
(American Libraries Association)
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