STUDY GUIDE
for
FAHRENHEIT 451
by Ray Bradbury
KEY FACTS:
Full Title & Author: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Genre: Science Fiction
Time & Place Written: 1950-1953, Los Angeles, California
Date of Publication: 1953 (shorter version entitled “The Fireman” published in 1951 in Galaxy Science Fiction
Narrator: Third person, limited omniscient. Follows Montag’s point of view, often articulating his interior monologues
Protagonist: Montag
Setting (time): Sometime in the twenty-first century, in and around an unspecified city in the United States; there have been two atomic wars since 1990
Themes: Censorship, Conformity, Knowledge vs. Ignorance
Motifs: Paradoxes, Animals & Nature, Religion
Symbols: Fire, blood, “The Hearth and the Salamander,” The Sieve and the Sand,” The Phoenix, Mirrors
NOVEL BACKGROUND:
The story of fireman Guy Montag first appeared in "The Fireman", a short story by Ray Bradbury published in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1951. Montag's
story was expanded two years later, in 1953, when it was published as Fahrenheit 451. While the novel is most often classified as a work of science
fiction, it is first and foremost a social criticism that warns against the danger of suppressing thought through censorship. Fahrenheit 451 uses the genre
of science fiction, which was enjoying immense popularity at the time of the books publication, as a vehicle for his message that oppressive government,
left unchecked, can do irreparable damage to society by limiting the creativity and freedom of it's people. In particular, the "dystopia" motif popular in
science fiction - that of a futuristic technocratic and totalitarian society that demands order and harmony at the expense of individual rights - serves the
novel well.
Developed in the years following World War II, Fahrenheit 451 condemns not only the anti-intellectualism of the defeated Nazi party in Germany, but
more immediately the intellectually oppressive political climate of the early 1950's - the heyday of McCarthyism. That such influential social criticisms via
fiction as Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 and Skinner’s Walden Two were published just a few short years prior to Fahrenheit 451 is not coincidental.
These works reveal a very real apprehension of the danger of the US evolving into an oppressive, authoritarian society that existed in the post-WWII
period.
On a more personal level, Bradbury used Fahrenheit 451 as a vehicle through which to protest what he believed to be the invasiveness of editors who,
through their strict control of the books they printed, impaired the originality and creativity of writers. Ironically, Fahrenheit 45I, itself a vehicle of protest
against censorship, has often been edited for foul language.
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's most popular novel, has been reprinted scores of times since it was initially published in 1953. The lesson of this
American classic is one that has become increasingly important and is as relevant today as it was when it was first written.
AUTHOR BACKGROUND:
Ray Douglas Bradbury, the author of more than 500 published literary works, was born in Waukegan, Illinois, on August 22, 1920. Bradbury moved with
his family to Tucson, Arizona, when he was 6, but returned to Waukegan the following year. In 1932, Bradbury¹s father lost his job and the family again
moved to Tucson, only to return to Waukegan the next year. In 1934, when Bradbury was 14, the family moved permanently to Los Angeles, California.
Mr. Bradbury still resides in Los Angeles, but regards Waukegan as his hometown and has used it as the setting of two of his novels under the
pseudonym of Green Town.
In his youth, Bradbury developed a love of magic and had aspirations of becoming a magician. Encouraged in his creativity by his family, Bradbury
turned to writing at a young age, a profession at which many would argue he has worked quite a bit of magic. In 1937, at the age of 17, Bradbury
became a member of the Los Angeles Science Fiction League, through which he published his first work, a short lived science fiction fan magazine.
Bradbury¹s first short story was published in Weird Tales when the author was 20. This was the first of many professional publications of Bradbury¹s
work, which includes Dark Carnival (1947), Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953), Dandelion
Wine (1957), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), Death is a Lonely Business (1985), The April Witch (1987), Death Has Lost It¹s Charm
(1987), The Toynbee Collector (1988), Graveyard for Lunatics (1990), Folon¹s Folon¹s (1990), Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity (1991), and
A Chrestomathy of Ray Bradbury: A Dramatic Selection (1991) in addition to Fahrenheit 451 (1953).
In addition to his numerous books and short stories, Bradbury wrote for years for both Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. He has written
two musicals, produced dramatic presentations of a number of his novels, and wrote the screenplay for 1953¹s Moby Dick. His cable television show,
The Ray Bradbury Theater, has won numerous cable awards, and five of his novels - Fahrenheit 451, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, It Came from
Outer Space, The Illustrated Man, and Something Wicked This Way Comes - have been made into major motion pictures. Bradbury was a consultant for
the 1963 World¹s Fair and helped to design the Spaceship Earth ride at Disney World¹s EPCOT Center. Additionally, Mr. Bradbury has worked as a
consultant on city engineering and rapid transit.
Though Ray Bradbury is most widely regarded as a science fiction writer, he has not limited himself to that genre, having produced both works of drama
and psychological realism in addition to his science fiction works. Furthermore, it would be unfair to classify much of Bradbury¹s more philosophical
science fiction, Fahrenheit 451 included within the genre of science fiction. Fahrenheit 451 is just as much a social criticism as a work of science fiction,
if not more so. Bradbury¹s work has contributed to American literature on many levels.
Bradbury has been the recipient of countless literary awards, including the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Aviation-Space
Writer's Association Award for best space article in an American Magazine, the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award, Science Fiction Writers of
America Grand Master Award.
CHARACTER LIST (from SparkNotes)
Guy Montag:
Granger:
Mildred Montag:
Mrs. Phelps:
Captain Beatty:
Mrs. Bowles:
Professor Faber:
Stoneman & Black:
Clarisse McClellan:
THEMES, MOTIFS & SYMBOLS:
THEMES ARE THE FUNDAMENTAL AND OFTEN UNIVERSAL IDEAS EXPLORED IN A LITERARY WORK.
Censorship:
Conformity:
Knowledge vs. Ingnorance
MOTIFS ARE RECURRING STRUCTURES, CONTRASTS, OR LITERARY DEVICES THAT CAN HELP TO DEVELOP AND INFORM
THE TEXT’S MAJOR THEMES.
Paradoxes:
Animal and Human Imagery:
Religion:
SYMBOLS ARE OBJECTS, CHARACTERS, OR COLORS USED TO REPRESENT ABSTRACT IDEAS OR CONCEPTS
Blood:
“The Hearth and the Salamander”:
“The Sieve and the Sand”:
The Phoenix:
Mirrors:
READING SCHEDULE/VOCABULARY/STUDY QUESTIONS
PART ONE: “THE HEARTH AND THE SALAMANDER”
DAY ONE (Friday, September 3rd)
READING: pp. 1-11
VOCABULARY:
•
Fahrenheit
•
hearth
•
dimensions
•
parlor
•
pedestrian
•
•
•
•
subconscious
refracted
marionette
tallow
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. The second paragraph describes the burning of a house containing books. What image does this
create for the reader? What might this symbolism foreshadow?
2. What is the significance of Montag seeing his reflection in Clarisse’s eyes?
3. Clarisse causes Montag to recall a childhood memory in which a wish is embedded. What is the
significance of the memory and the wish?
4. What two observations does Clarisse make about Montag’s conversational mannerisms?
5. What things do the McClellans do that cause them to be classified as peculiar?
6. What final question does Clarisse ask Montag on the night of their first encounter? Why might this
question be a catalyst to the plot?
7. When Montag enters his home, he stars at the blank wall but in memory sees Clarisse. What
extended simile describes how he sees her? What is significant about the comparison?
8. Find two further similes Montag uses to describe Clarisse. Do the similes serve any purpose
other than to characterize Clarisse?
DAY TWO: (Tuesday, September 7th)
READING: p. 12-28
VOCABULARY:
o melancholy
o olfactory
o ballistics
o trajectory
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. Describe the bedroom Montag enters. Whom does the setting characterize?
2. At this point of realization, what happens to the smile on Montag’s face? What is Montag’s answer to Clarisse’s
question?
3. What event occurs that night which provides Montag with an impression of the state of society? What is that
impression?
4. In contrast, what does Montag next hear and long for?
5. Describe the new idea for the parlor walls about which Mildred is so excited.
6. What test of love does Clarisse give Montag, and how does he respond to it?
7. Describe Clarisse’s personality.
8. What observations does Clarisse make about how Montag differs from other firemen?
9. Describe the mechanical hound.
DAY THREE (Wednesday, September 8th)
READING: p. 28-40
VOCABULARY:
o antisocial
o asylum
o sheath
o odious
o objectivity
o
o
o
o
abyss
ravenous
centrifuge
cacophony
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. What does antisocial mean? What does it mean in the society of Fahrenheit 451? To whom is the term applied?
2. What does Clarisse say people talk about? As you continue reading the novel, search for conversations that represent
Clarisse’s ideas?
3. During the card game at the fire station, what question does Montag ask? What does it contribute to the plot? What is the
significance of the refrain repeated by the woman whose house was burned? What did it mean? What is its effect on Montag?
DAY FOUR (Thursday, September 9th)
READING: p. 40-68
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. What does Montag think his feelings would be if his wife were to die?
2. What are Montag’s comments about the people in the walls?
3. What does Montag think about the old woman and all the books he has destroyed?
4. Summarize Beatty’s explanation of how the need for firemen arose.
DAY FIVE (Friday, September 10th)
PART ONE QUIZ
PART TWO: “THE SAND AND THE SIEVE”
DAY SIX (Monday, September 13th)
READING: p. 71-80
VOCABULARY:
o subside
o cadenced
o monologue
o suffused
o
o
o
sieve
dentifrice
submission
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. In the beginning of “Part Two: The Sieve and the Sand,” Montag remembers Clarisse. What does he say about her?
2. Why is Mildred worried about being caught with the books? What does this tell you of her character?
3. In Fahrenheit 451 the underdeveloped nations hate the United States, and was is a way of life so natural that it is scarcely
noted. Predict what international relations and war will be like in the future.
4. What is the meaning of the title of Part Two?
DAY SEVEN (Tuesday, September 14th)
READING: p. 80-93
VOCABULARY:
o romantic (as noun)
o receptacle
o intuitive
o infinite
o profusion
o
o
o
o
skepticism
mortal
insidious
contemptible
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. Why does Montag go to see Faber?
2. What does Faber tell Montag about books?
3. What are the three things Faber says are missing from society? Tell how each is indeed missing from the society of Fahrenheit
451?
4. How does Faber define the job of firemen? How does this differ from Beatty’s definition?
5. Explain Faber’s statement: “Montag, go home…Why waste your final hours racing about your cage denying you’re a squirrel.”
6. Describe the device Faber provides for Montag to help him with Captain Beatty.
7. Faber considers himself a coward. What do you think?
OUT OF HIS/HER MIND ACTIVITY DUE: 10/18/09
DAY EIGHT (Thursday, September 16th)
READING: p. 93-110
VOCABULARY:
o certitude
o manifested
o parried
o chaos
o
o
o
o
verbiage
oracle
rebut
tyranny
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. Describe the parlor women, their views, and their concerns.
2. Why does Montag take a book into the parlor?
3. “Dover Beach” is a literary allusion that is central to one of the book’s themes. Once the Sea of Faith has retreated, what is
left? What things in Fahrenheit 451 are representative of the lifeless waters that have replaced the Sea of Faith?
4.
5.
How do the women react after the reading of the poem?
How does their reaction support Beatty’s explanation as to why literature of power had to be destroyed? [see p. 61-65]
DAY NINE (Friday, September 17th)
PART TWO QUIZ
PART THREE: “BURNING BRIGHT”
DAY TEN (Monday, September 20th)
READING: p. 113-130; “There Will Come Soft Rains”
VOCABULARY:
o
o
o
o
o
valise
perpetual
illumined
litterateur
bole
o
o
o
o
o
anesthetized
penance
obscure
excursions
phosphorescent
o
o
o
o
o
ricocheted
séance
juggernaut
guild
asbestos
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. What is Mildred’s main concern as she runs out the house?
2. What does Beatty say is the real beauty about fire?
3. What feelings does Montag have about burning this house?
4. While Montag is in flight from the scene of Beatty’s murder, what thought occurs to him about Beatty?
5. How does Montag explain how so very much could have happened in just one week?
6. After a short time of floating in the river, Montag knows why he must never burn again. Explain his revelation.
7. Fully describe Montag’s impressions of the land across the river.
VISION OF THE FUTURE ACTIVITY DUE: 9/30/10
DAY ELEVEN (Tuesday, September 21st)
READING: p. 131-145
DAY TWELVE (Thursday, September 23rd)
READING: p. 146-165
VOCABULARY:
o
o
o
scapegoat
pendants
convolutions
o
o
status quo
desolation
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. Summarize Granger’s explanation of their overall plan for changing society.
2. When Montag complains about being unable to remember Mildred, what explanation does Granger give?
3. What is Granger’s philosophy of life, taught to him by his grandfather and handed on to Montag?
4. Describe the effects of the war as Montag imagines them.
5. Granger compares society to the Phoenix. In what ways are the two alike?
6. What does Granger say will be the first thing they will build? Explain.
7. What is the promise at the end of the novel?
DAY THIRTEEN (Friday, September 24th)
PART TWO QUIZ
DAY FOURTEEN (Monday, September 27th)
FINAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. How does Bradbury achieve verisimilitude in Fahrenheit 451?
2. What do each of the following symbolize in the novel?
a. books
e. mirrors
b. fire
f. Phoenix
c. mechanical hound
g. the sand and the sieve
d. parlor walls
3. Explain the theme of Fahrenheit 451.
4. List technologies in the novel and describe their use. From the list, identify which technologies are now possible and describe
how they are used in present society. Compare and contrast the author’s predictions with the actual use of these technologies.
To what extent has present society resolved the ethical issues of the technologies?
Fahrenheit 451 Test—Wednesday, September 29th