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 Page 27 – Page 32 – Page 33 – Page 35 – Page 47 – Page 56 – Page 57 – Page 67 – Page 68 – Page 72 – 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 Provide the quote and explain the context. Provide an excerpt or biography of the referenced item. Explain the reference in your own words; paraphrase what it is. 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?