Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451
by: Ray Bradbury

Ashley Hacker, Madison Barfuss, Chad Smith, Miso
Mpofu, Kenny Chen
Summary
Knowledge is power, and when that power is taken away, rights disappear with it. Guy
Montag learns this all throughout fahrenheit 451 as his world crumbles around him. In his
society firefighters start fires instead of stop fires, burning books night after night. He
begins to become intrigued by the books hes burning and ends up committing the terrible
crime of harboring books. With only the help of a former College professor he has to
escape the law and the clutches of the society that shaped him.

http://wall4all.me/walls/people/fahrenheit-451-book-covers-
books-888062-1760x2779.jpg
Themes
The main themes of fahrenheit 451 are the importance of knowledge
(especially through literature), the loss of individualism through the loss of
knowledge, television and its effects on the human mind and society as a
whole.
Cross Connection: Fiction
The Book Thief
http://25.media.tumblr.
com/3dba9110bb779bfa619c0d0263c8f57e/tumblr_mer
3i4yWd31qbyfo4o1_500.jpg
Cross Connection: Non-fiction
Holocaust
Helmuth Hbener joined the Hitler Youth, as required by the
government, but would later disapprove of Kristallnacht, when the
Nazis, including the Hitler Youth, destroyed Jewish businesses and
homes. Hbener discovered his brother Gerhard's shortwave radio
in a hallway closet given to Gerhard by a soldier who was related to
him, and began listening to the BBC on his own and used what he
heard to compose various anti-fascist texts and anti-war leaflets, of
which he also made many copies. The leaflets were designed to
bring to people's attention how skewed the official reports about
World War II from Berlin were, as well as to point out Adolf Hitler's,
Joseph Goebbels's, and other leading Nazis' criminal behaviour.
Other themes covered by Hbener's writings were the war's futility
and Germany's looming defeat.(Helmuth Hbener,Wikipedia)
Cross Connection: Contemporary
:Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let
them have ideas. (Joseph Stalin)
:Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.
(Joseph Stalin)
http://static.comicvine.
com/uploads/original/5/50734/1376020-stalin5.
png
Quotes
There must be something in books, something we cant imagine, to make a
woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You dont
stay for nothing. (Bradbury 51)
On a regular book burning run, Guy witnesses a woman burn up with her
books. The event makes Guy rethink his life and career which kickstarts his
thought about the wonder books hold that could empower a woman to burn
alive.
We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution
says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all
are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge
themselves against. (Bradbury 58)
With knowledge of all things controversial taken away with books, the
power each individual holds dissipates. Making every citizen equal with no one
straying from one way of thinking.
"How're the children, Mrs. Phelps?" he asked.
"You know I haven't got any! No one in his right mind, the good Lord knows, would have children!" said Mrs.
Phelps, not quite sure why she was angry with this man.
"Wouldn't say that," said Mrs. Bowles. "I've had two children by Caesarian section. No use going through all
that agony for a baby. The world must reproduce, you know, the race must go on. Besides, they sometimes
look just like you, and that's nice . Two Caesareans turned the trick, yes, sir. Oh, my doctor said, Caesarian
aren't necessary; you've got the hips for it, everything's normal, but I insisted."
"Caesareans or not, children are ruinous; you're out of your mind," said Mrs. Phelps.
"I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten. I put up with them when they come home three days a
month; it's not bad at all. You heave them into the 'parlor' and turn the switch . It's like washing clothes: stuff
laundry in and slam the lid." Mrs. Bowles tittered. "They'd just as soon kick me as kiss me. Thank God, I can
kick back!" (Bradbury 96)
Symbolic Images
http://mrscrawfordsclasswebsite.weebly.com/poetry-and-fahrenheit-451.
html
http://indexadora.files.wordpress.
com/2012/07/fahrenheit451-fire.jpg
http://cdn-images.9cloud.
us/70/torch_every_book_burn_every_page_ch_1450036660.
640x0.png
Images Continued
http://jghsenglish.edublogs.
org/files/2014/01/451_no_thinking-
11web5z.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-
CGFo3WW60vw/UxVD14366KI/AAAAAAAABTI/eaXWUFaWX0g/s1600/book
-vs-tv.jpg
Dystopian Characteristics
Thought Control
The outright banning and burning of literature
Propaganda
Citizens are fairly dehumanized due to the effects of
forced conformity
Conformity due to the lessening of knowledge
Independent Thought is restricted due to restricted
knowledge
Conclusion
In conclusion the limiting of knowledge or control of the flow of knowledge
has been used throughout history to control people. The people with the
knowledge or controlling it usually have the power just like Stalin, the Nazi
party, and guy Montags society. Knowledge definitely is power.
Works Cited
BookRags Media Network. Joseph Stalin Quotes. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.brainyquote.
com/quotes/authors/j/joseph_stalin.html>.
Book Thief (17 March 2014) http://25.media.tumblr.com/3dba9110bb779bfa619c0d0263c8f57e/tumblr_mer3i4yWd31qbyfo4o1_500.jpg. Web.
Book Vs. Tv. (17 March 2014) http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CGFo3WW60vw/UxVD14366KI/AAAAAAAABTI/eaXWUFaWX0g/s1600/book-vs-tv.jpg. Web.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982. N. pag. Print.
Dont try to think. (17 March 2014) http://jghsenglish.edublogs.org/files/2014/01/451_no_thinking11web5z.jpg. Web.
Fahrenheit 451 book covers books fire helmet. (17 March 2014) http://wall4all.me/wallpaper/888062-451-book-covers-books. Web.
Fahrenheit 451 Old Lady. (17 March 2014) http://indexadora.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/fahrenheit451-fire.jpg. Web.
Poetry and Fahrenheit 451. (17 March 2014) http://mrscrawfordsclasswebsite.weebly.com/poetry-and-fahrenheit-451.html. Web.
Works Cited Continued
Stalin 5. (17 March 2014) http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/5/50734/1376020-stalin5.png. Web.
Torch Every Book Burn Every Page. (17 March 2014) http://cdn-images.9cloud.us/70/torch_every_book_burn_every_page_ch_1450036660.640x0.png. Web.
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Helmuth Hbener. N.p.: n.p., 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

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Fahrenheit 451

by: Ray Bradbury

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