Fahrenheit 451: Ray Bradbury’s dystopian masterpiece "There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing."

Include at least five bullet points. Paraphrase using your own words. Fahrenheit 451: Historical context: Take notes on “The Fifties” informational text in “historical context” section of notes: Include at least five bullet points. Paraphrase using your own words. List at least five major events and/or characteristics of the time period. Identify at least two quotes from the novel that reflect the historical and cultural period in which it was written. CENSORSHIP AND BOOK BURNINGS: Nazi book burnings of late 30s became a major symbol of the terrifying repression that followed in Nazi Germany. Senate hearings of Joseph McCarthy during the “Red Scare” began to focus on writers and film makers, the question of artistic freedom troubled many people and became the subject of debate. Senator Joseph McCarthy's hearings into the political background of artists led to the blacklisting of several prominent Hollywood writers during the 1950s. While the Supreme Court decision allowing censorship of films was overturned in 1952, strict regulation of film content persisted into the 1960s. Ironically, Bradbury's publishers, unknown to him, bowdlerized Fahrenheit 451 —that is, "cleaned up" or deleted some of the language that Bradbury used—in order to make the book saleable to the high school market.

CENSORSHIP: Nazi book burnings of late 30s Senate hearings of Joseph McCarthy during the “Red Scare” Blacklisting 1970s censorship of Fahrenheit 451

Nazi Book burning

Technology "Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries or more," Captain Beatty tells Montag. Cold War Fear of Technology and robots Image of “the mad scientist” TECHNOLOGY: From the early days of television in the 1950s, when every American scrambled to have one in the home, to this day, watching television has competed with reading books. In the 1950s, schools began to use television in the classroom because it was becoming apparent that children's reading levels were dropping. "Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries or more," Captain Beatty tells Montag. During the 1950s and up until the fall of the Soviet Union, the fear of nuclear war was a real threat in the minds of people. The fear of damage from nuclear waste remains an environmental threat. The fear that destructive atomic power might fall into the hands of terrorists is also a serious issue . It is within an atmosphere of fear that repression can flourish. Another technological advance that Bradbury deals with in his book is the development of robots. A commonly of robots is they are to be feared because by nature they do not possess human qualities and might even be able to take control over human beings. Many science-fiction "mad scientist" movies of the 1950s capitalized on this fear by portraying monstrous creatures created by misused technology as well as technology itself revolting against its creators. This fear of technology was pervasive during the 1950s.

“On each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.” –George Orwell, 1984

Remnants of the Cold War on view in Washington D.C. Washington DC: National Air and Space Museum - Pershing-II and SS-20 missiles The Pershing-II and SS-20 missiles exhibited here are two of more than 2,600 nuclear missiles banned by the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which was signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in December 1987. The INF Treaty is a milestone in the effort to control nuclear arms. It is the first international agreement to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons--those having a range of 500-5,500 kilometers (300-3,400 miles). The U.S. Pershing-II and the Soviet SS-20 were regarded as the most threatening missiles in this class. A mobile intermediate-range ballistic missile of the U.S. Army, the Pershing-II was deployed at American bases in West Germany beginning in 1983 and aimed at targets in the western Soviet Union. It carried a single thermonuclear warhead with an explosive force equivalent to 5-50 kilotons (5,000©;50,000 tons) of TNT. The terms of the INF Treaty required that all Pershing-IIs and their support equipment be eliminated. The missile displayed here is a training version, but its dimensions and weight are identical to those of an operational Pershing-II.

Contextualizing: Write a clear and detailed two paragraph commentary evaluating how Bradbury’s F451 reflects the culture of the time period: Describe American cultural fears and concerns of the era and how each came about. Include at least one quote from the text to show how Bradbury commented on that issue. Analyze how at least one of the concerns Bradbury describes in the text is still a valid concern today. Include at least one quote from the text to support your comments.

Narrative Voice: Define each type: First person Second person Third person omniscient Third person limited Narrative voice exercise: Choose one passage that you wrote about for your summer assignment—describe the scene from the first person point of view of a character other than Montag.

Structure of the novel: Novel’s three part structure reflects Montag’s shift from passivity to active rebellion against the dystopian society. How does each chapter title reflect his state? “The Hearth and the Salamander” “The Sand and the Sieve” “Burning Bright”

Technology as progress? Reread Beatty’s visit to Montag when he is “sick”—aprox. pages 57-62. Why is he there? Why doesn’t Montag want him there? What does he reveal to Montag and the reader about the history of this society? Describe the shifts in education, technology and public preference. Who are the “parlor aunts” heard in the background? What is their significance? What direct connections can you make between Beatty’s description of their current society and ours today? Should we be worried about some of the same problems as Montag? Surveillance/privacy Technology vs face-to-face human relationships Govt suppression of dissenters Anti-intellectualism/ literature becoming obsolete

Allusions in literature: Define allusion and provide one example and supporting quote for each. Explain the significance of the allusion. Biblical allusions: Book of Job Shakespearean allusions: Caesar Mythological allusions: Hercules Historical references: heretics burnt at stake

Bradbury and his use of imagery: Read the background about Bradbury and the interview with him about F451. Evaluate how he portrays images of fire, both literal and figurative in each section of the novel. Consider how the associations with fire shift over the course of the novel. Provide at least three specific supporting quotes to support your analysis.

Contemporary context: Explain the message and tone