Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Literary Allusions:
ALL Sections
• An allusion is a reference to a
mythological, Biblical, literary, or
historical person, place, or thing or any
reference to another work of literature.
• Allusions are usually brief and passing.
• Allusions can enrich our reading of one
text by causing us to think about
another text.
Literary Allusions:
ALL Sections
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Page 32 –
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Page 47 –
Page 56 –
Page 57 –
Page 67 –
Page 68 –
Page 72 –
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Page 74–
Page 79–
Page 82 –
Page 83 to 85 –
Page 89 –
Page 96 –
Pages 101 to 105 –
Page 107 –
Page 113 –
Pages 143 to 147 –
Page 156 –
Page 158 –
Literary Allusions:
ASSIGNMENT
1. Provide the quote and explain the context.
2. Provide an excerpt or biography of the
referenced item.
3. Explain the reference in your own words;
paraphrase what it is.
4. Connect it to Fahrenheit 451 and offer up a
question for consideration.
Tower of Babel:
• On page 38 of the novel, Beatty is
yelling at the woman who chose to
burn with her books.
• “ ’Where’s your common sense? None of
these books agree with each other.
You’ve been locked up here for years
with a regular damned Tower of Babel.
Snap out of it!’ “
Tower of Babel:
Genesis 11:1-9New International Version (NIV)
The Tower of Babel
11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As
people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b] and settled there.
3 They
said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them
thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then
they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to
the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will
be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But
the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were
building. 6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language
they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible
for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will
not understand each other.”
8 So
the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they
stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because
there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the
LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Tower of Babel:
• His mention of the Tower of Babel
is an allusion to a story in the Bible.
• In the Old Testament book of
Genesis, everyone spoke one
language.
• The people built a huge tower,
trying to get to heaven.
• God realized they needed to be
restrained from accomplishing so
much.
• He confused, or mixed up, their
language so that everyone spoke
different languages.
Tower of Babel:
• Mention of the Tower of
Babel now means
confusion and corruption
of language, the
disagreement between
different languages, or the
inability to communicate.
• What do you think Beatty
meant by saying this to the
woman?