English II Honors
Garcia (agarcia@nazarethacademy.com)
Fahrenheit 451
ALLUSION: A literary device which authors use as a means to refer or to make reference to an historical
event, famous individual, landmark, or well‐known work of art/literature. Throughout Fahrenheit 451,
Bradbury likes to allude to other authors and texts as a way to write about writers (a topic he loves). Because of
this, it is important that the reader understand why Bradbury found these individuals noteworthy and applicable
to the thematic issues presented in Fahrenheit 451. Therefore, you will complete the following assignment to
ensure that you have an understanding of the allusions mentioned throughout the novel.
Assignment: Go to a LIBRARY or RELIABLE/ACADEMIC Web Source and look up the following
references and allusions from Fahrenheit 451. You can use a book, database, or a reliable, scholarly Internet
source (not Wikipedia, yahoo answers, ask.com, or any source that is not scholarly). You will record your
findings in your notebook, meaning that this is a handwritten assignment. This is a completion grade
assignment. I will check-in this assignment on Wednesday, August 19th , 2015 for 20 points.
For each reference/allusion students should:
● Define the word – What does it mean (these words have an asterisk) OR
● Clearly and concisely identify dominant themes in the writings of authors/philosophers/historical
figures that are included on the list. You do not need to include information like when he/she was
born and died, how many children he/she had. You want the information to focus on what
he/she contributed to the academic arena. You only have to write 2 brief sentences for these
figures. We will do an activity with these when you return from summer break. Make sure to
number each entry. (**In order to fully grasp the significance of these scholars, I suggest
completing this before reading the novel.**)
● Identify which part of the novel references the allusio n/word.
● Skip a line between entries and number each entry.
1. Shakespeare’s Hamlet
2. Thomas Jefferson
3. Henry David Thoreau’s Walden
4. Machiavelli
5. The Book of Job
6. Tower of Babel
7. Nicholas Ridley
8. Book of Revelation
9. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels
10. Plato’s Republic
11. Charles Darwin
12. Thomas Paine
13. The Book of Ecclesiastes
14. Lilies of the field (Matthew 6:28)
15. the Legend of Hercules & Antaeus
16. Marcus Aurelius
17. Abraham Lincoln
18. Magna Carta
19. Icarus (“too close to the sun”)
20. US Constitution
21. Walt Whitman
22. Dark Ages
23. Mahatma Gandhi
24. Gautama Buddha
25. Salamander *
26. Cacophony*
27. Diatribe*
28. Skepticism*
29. Scapegoat*
30. Status quo*
31. Juggernaut*
32. Phoenix*
33. Schopenhauer
34. Faber-Castell
35. Alexander Pope
36. Dante Alighieri
37. Bertrand Russell
38. Confucius